


A Glimmering Mirror

by thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Comfort, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Female when she is doing the thinking/after the reveal, Gen, Hurt, Male Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, et cetera - Freeform, male when others are thinking about her before the reveal, set around Zuko's birth/childhood, so pre-avatar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2018-10-12 03:06:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 39,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10480737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey/pseuds/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey
Summary: Set shortly before the events of Avatar, five teens from the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe (and, you know, fire bending Keith is my equivalent of Galra Keith, so we'll find that out later) find out that they have been chosen to wield legendary weapons. Along with a couple of Air Acolytes, (Coran and Allura) they must save the world! (Except that's Aang's job, so they'll defeat Zarkon, not Ozai.) Will update as Voltron seasons come out. The avatar/voltron au that everybody was thinking from day one that I'm going to pretend I was the first to write.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Screw my original idea, I'm writing this differently. Have fun!

“Keith! I’m going out! Don’t open the door to strangers, okay?”

“Yeah, came the absent-minded call, “Sure.” Shiro rolled his eyes and locked the door behind them. He’d honestly feel bad for any stranger who tried to enter the house while seven-year-old Keith was inside. The kid might not be a bender, but whoo, he was scary with a knife. Or a sword when he got his hands on Shiro’s katana.

**____________**

The market was fairly crowded by the time Shiro got there. Not that that was any different from any other day in Ba-Sing-Sae, so Shiro was fine. There were shouts and crashes, and a little kid ran right into Shiro. He looked to be about Keith’s age, and Shiro steadied him with one hand.

“Whoa, there, squirt. Be careful.”

“I didn’t do it! I really didn’t!”

“Hey, now. What didn’t you do?”

“I didn’t steal anything! The other kid did, but he’s Earth Kingdom, and _I’m_ Water Tribe, so they think _I_ did it!”

“Alright. Here’s my address. Ask for Keith and tell him Shiro sent you.” Shiro scribbled down his house street and number on an old receipt and handed it to the little kid. “Whoo. Going to regret this later, I know I am.”

The market security came barreling down the street. “Hey! Caught you kid!”

“Hold on,” Shiro remarked calmly, “He didn’t steal anything.”

“How did you know that something was stolen?”

Shiro sighed as if he’d let something slip. “I knew I’d screw up. I stole it. Leave him alone.” The guards eyed him suspiciously, but clapped handcuffs on him and led him away. And that was the day that Takeshi Shirogane became Lance’s hero.

**_________**

“Hello?”

“I’m not supposed to open the door for strangers.”

“Shiro sent me. Are… are you Keith?”

The door opened a crack. “Yeah. What do you want?”

“Um, well, Shiro got arrested.”

The door was flung wide open. “What?!”

Lance recognized this kid. “Hey! You’re the person who stole the fruit in the market today!”

“So?”

“So I got blamed for it!”

“Tough. That’s how life works. You get blamed for things that aren’t your fault. Now, get out of my way, I have to rescue my dad from jail.” And that was the day Keith Kogane/Shirogane became Lance’s rival.

**_______________**

“The battle for the colony Kerberos was successful. The land is back under the Earth Kingdom’s control.” Keith stopped. Shiro’s squad had been sent out near the Kerberos area.

“Deceased: From squad one…” Keith waited anxiously for squad seven, the squad Shiro led. “…Squad seven. Due to a leadership error, most of squad seven was wiped out.” Keith bit his lip and listened through the list of the dead, letting out a sigh of relief when Shiro’s name was not listed. His name wasn’t in the injured list either. “…Missing in action, presumed dead, Matthew Holt, Sam Holt and Takeshi Shirogane.” And Keith’s world shattered beneath him.

For a few days, Keith locked his door and refused to let anyone in. Eventually the next-door- neighbor managed to force her way in by picking the lock. Upon seeing the teenager huddled in a corner, she set down the pot of soup she’d made down and left, sensing his need to be alone. A few days later, the soup came with an advertisement to join a military academy. Keith’s mind was made up in a matter of hours. He would go to the military. And when he was sent out into the war, he would look for Shiro.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Screw everything I already did, I don't like it. Starting over.

“Hey! Kid! What are you doing up here?!”

Keith glared at the soldier who had spoken to him. “Sitting on the inner wall. Got a problem with that?”

“I don’t, but the Fire Nation might. Look, it’s not safe, you need to leave.”

“I went through military training. I’ll be fine.”

“You look a little young to have been sent into war- Oh. Keith Kogane?”

“Does it matter?”

“No. Either way, you need to get off this wall.”

“I’m not going to get off.”

“Kid-”

“No.”

The soldier grumbled. “Fine. If I gotta kick you off, I will.” The area Keith was sitting on turned into a slide, and he tumbled to the ground.

“Sorry! But I have to follow the rules!”

Keith grumbled and stalked off, hands in his pockets. He was almost to his house when he saw a crowd of soldiers-in-training surrounding his little house.

“Hey! What are you doing?!”

One of them turned to him. “Oh, it’s the Fire Nation kid. Scram.”

“What?! This is my house! And I’m not Fire nation!”

“Ever ask that failure of a leader you call brother where he found you?”

Keith’s fists clenched. “Take that back,” he growled, “Take it back now, or I’ll kill you.”

“Aww, look, are you gonna cry? Miss daddy? Do you- What are you _doing_?!”

Keith had pulled out his knife and pointed it at him. “Say one more bad thing about Shiro, and this knife _will_ find your throat.”

“Geeze! No wonder they kicked you out! You’re a psycho!”

“Apologize.”

“Geeze, man! Fine, I’m sorry I called your brother a failure! But you know that’s what everyone thinks, right? It’s not just me.”

“Get out of here.”

They obeyed, some of them shooting Keith dark glances. He didn’t care.

**______________**

 

“Hey, Hunk, there go those stupid bullies. Think we should stop them?”

“Are they doing something bad?”

“Nah, but you know them. They’ll probably find a kid and start kicking him for fun.”

Lance, a member of the Water Tribe, and Hunk, an earth-bender, followed the gang until they stopped and started throwing rocks at someone’s house. Lance started forward to stop them, but another person came forward and, after a few angry words, pulled a knife on them.

They ran away yelping, and Lance pulled Hunk away. “Oh. It’s Keith.”

“Dude, he threatened to _kill_ them!”

“They deserved it. Not that I like Keith, but they are definitely worse.”

The next day, the leader of the gang was found dead, his throat slashed.

**______________**

“What’s going on?” Keith had heard a knock at the door, and had opened it to a couple of the Di-Lee. They said nothing, only grabbed him. “Hey! Let me go!”

“Keith Kogane, also known as Keith Shirogane, you are under arrest.”

“What? What did I do?!”

“You are under arrest for murder.”

**________________**

 

“You think we did the right thing?” Hunk asked Lance as the Di-Lee dragged a bewildered Keith in, throwing him in a cell with no particular gentleness and locking him to a wall.

“Of course we did.” Lance hoped the doubt he felt didn’t leak into his voice. “I mean, he threatens someone and they turn up dead the next day? He’s totally guilty. Right?”

“He looked kind of confused.”

“Could be an act.”

“I don’t think so. Excuse me,” Hunk tapped a Di-Lee agent. “Can we talk to him?”

“No. He’s dangerous.”

“But I think-”

The Di-Lee gave him a hard stare. “Thinking is dangerous in these times. Especially for soldiers.”

**_______________**

“Keith Kogane.”

Keith struggled against the wall restraints. “I didn’t kill anyone! Why do you think I did?”

“Yesterday at your house, you threatened someone with a knife. This morning, that man was found dead.”

“I didn’t kill him! And were you watching me? I mean, how else would you know?”

“We have our sources.”

“Someone told on me, didn’t they? Who was it?!”

“They are being protected.”

“From who?” Keith stopped struggling as the realization caught up to him. “From _me_? You’re protecting them from me? I’m not going to go for revenge or anything!”

“You’re dangerous.”

“But I didn’t… I wasn’t…”

“You know that talking about the war isn’t allowed. And yet, you did.”

“So was he!”

“He’s dead, though. Remember, there is no war in Ba-Sing-Sae.”

“Maybe not in your perfect utopian world, but in the real world? My brother went missing!”

“Takeshi Shirogane is dead. The sooner you accept that, the happier you’ll be.”

“No. I’ll never do that. I’ll _never_ admit to that. He’s alive, and I’ll find him!”

A flashing light began to spin around. “There is no war in Ba-Sing-Sae.”

**__________________**

“Can you see anything?”

“No! Hold your ostrich-horses!”

“But your foot is digging into my shoulder!”

“Well, if _someone_ would earth-bend-”

“I told you, it’s too conspicuous. Can you see Keith?”

“No! Left… Left... Now right… Wait! I see… What the Avatar? They’re brainwashing him!”

“You think we should help?”

Lance shook his head in frustration. “I don’t… I don’t know. I mean, if he’s innocent, we should, but if he’s guilty…”

“They would have executed him. Not attempted to mash his brains.”

Lance sighed. “I hate it when you’re right.” The Di-Lee agents left, but before Lance could even climb in the window, Keith had… oh, gross, had he dislocated his wrist? Whatever he had done, he was out of the shackles, but the door was still locked.

“Pst! Hey! Over here!” Lance waved his arms, almost toppling off of Hunk’s shoulders.

Keith ran to the window. “Who are you?”

“Uh, the name’s Lance?”

Keith stared at him uncomprehendingly.”

“Oh, come on! We were rivals! Keith and Lance, neck to neck!”

A flash of realization. About time. “Oh, I remember you. Weren’t you an archer?”

“Yeah, well I’m swordfighter class know, thanks to you washing out.”

“Well, congratulations. Is that a way down?”

“If you want to climb me and Hunk like a ladder, it is.” Keith looked like he might actually consider that a possibility. “That’s sarcasm. Don’t. Hunk, buddy, you want to do some earth-bending now?”

The big boy obliged, and they were out.

Unfortunately, Keith’s house was swarming with Di-Lee agents. Then Hunk had an idea.

“I’ve got a friend we can go to, who lives outside of the inner wall, has a farm. His name is Pidge, and he doesn’t like the Di-Lee. What do you say?

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! It is time to find Shiro!

“How did you get a friend outside the inner wall?”

The three teenagers were hiking through the farmland area, which was very different from inside the crowded city. Hunk shrugged. “He was selling stuff, and we started talking. He’s a plant-bender.”

“I thought they only lived in swamps,” Lace said in surprise, “And that they’re fairly unfriendly and anti-social.”

Hunk chuckled. “You’ve got the anti-social and unfriendly right. Pidge doesn’t really like strangers, or people in general. That’s probably why he stopped coming to town himself a couple of months ago. Decided nobody was cheating him after all and decided to stay secluded. He’s got this whole colony of dragon-hawks. Never been exactly sure why he lets them stay. Oh, wait, this is his farm!”

The instant they stepped on the path, green vines shot out of the ground and wound around them. Small yellow flowers appeared on the ground, forming letters. _Intruders, hold still until I get there. Try to destroy a single one of these vines, and you’ll regret it._

“Wow, this is some seriously talented bending.”

Keith growled. He hated being trapped. “Talented or not, this was clearly a trap. I’m out of here.” He pulled out his knife, ready to slice the vines.

Hunk’s eyes widened. “Wait, Keith-”

Too late. Keith sliced through the vines holding him, but more erupted from the ground, this time covering him so completely that only his face was visible. Lance snorted.

“Great job, genius.”

A short boy with brown hair and enormous glasses was hurrying towards them. “Okay, which of you idiots didn’t follow the instructions? I’m assuming you can read, and those weren’t hard to follow- Hunk!” The vines holding Hunk shrank back into the ground.

“Hey, Pidge. These are my friends, Lance and Keith.”

He let Lance go, but glared at Keith. “He sliced my plants.”

Hunk winced. “Yeah, I’m sure he is very sorry for that.”

“Not really,” Keith muttered. Pidge glared and the vines tightened. “Okay! Fine! I’m sorry I sliced your stupid plants! And even sorrier I agreed to come,” he murmured softly enough so that Pidge couldn’t hear him. Pidge glared for a few moments more before letting the vines slither back into the ground.

Pidge turned back to Hunk. “So, how come you’re here?”

“We might have maybe made the Di-Lee angry. Well, Keith definitely did. Not entirely sure they know how involved Lance and I were.”

Pidge’s eyes hardened, and he glanced up the road. “You better get inside.”

**__________________**

 

“Ignore the birds. They’ll leave at some point, I’m sure.” Pidge shooed away a messenger hawk that was pecking at Hunk. “So, what exactly happened?”

Pidge was a good listener, and the story didn’t take that long. After listening, he nodded. “Right, then. I’ll let you stay for a bit until this all settles down.”

“Why are there all these birds?” Keith swatted at one that was pecking at his knife.

“I intercept mail. I send it on, of course, but I like to know what’s going on, especially about-” He broke off.

“You read other people’s mail? That seems kind of wrong.”

Pidge shrugged. “The Di-Lee do it too. At least I give all the mail back, unlike them.”

“Wait, what?”

“The Di-Lee have a message interception set up almost like mine. But if they find messages about the war, or from soldiers, they generally don’t let them through.”

“Wait. Do you keep copies?”

“Yeah. Why?”

Keith seized Pidge’s hands. “Did you see anything for me? For Keith Kogane?”

Pidge wrenched his hands away and tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Kogane… hmm. I think I’ve seen that somewhere… Oh, yeah, there were a lot of letters for you. From the Kerberos campaign.” He smirked slightly at Keith’s panicked face. “Don’t have a heart attack there, cherry bomb.” He disappeared to the back of his house.

“Did he… just call me a cherry bomb?”

Lance smirked. “Well, with the red getup…”

Pidge walked back in waving a thick packet of letters over his head triumphantly. “One packet of letters for a Keith Kogane.”

Keith snatched them out of Pidge’s hands, eyeing them the way a starving person eyed a plate of food. He seemed to consume them, speeding through each one, then slowing down and re-reading it. Then he came to the last one. He sucked in one great breath, and the next moment, he was out the door, storming up the path.

Lance grabbed the last letter. “Keith. I was captured by the Fire nation, but I’ve escaped. I’m coming back, but I’m afraid that the Di-Lee are after me. Meet me outside the inner wall, at the spot where we watched the drills. Come at night. Your brother, Shiro.” Lance looked at the others, perturbed. “Wait, if the Di-Lee intercept all the letters…”

“They’d have known where he would be,” Hunk finished.

“-And they would have been able to take him!”

“Which, of course, Keith would know. So he’s probably going to go after them.”

“Nuh-uh. My hero. I’m going to rescue him. Hunk, come on!”

Pidge sighed as the two older boys charged out of her house. Why were they like this? No wonder most people found her weird. She didn’t immediately jump into danger like all these other boys. She sighed again. She supposed she better get after them before they all died. Idiots.

**___________**

“What can you see?”

“Nothing. You’re not in front of a window. Come on, Hunk! Just a little earth-bending.”

“No! They’ll notice!”

“Fine then. Left… Left… Got it!” Lance climbed in an open window, letting out a rope to get Hunk in. They carefully crept through the hallways.

“Hey, that door is locked and surrounded by the Di-Lee! Bet he’s in there!”

“Problem. _It’s surrounded by the Di-Lee_!”

“We just need a distraction, like…” an explosion sounded. “Like that.” The Di-Lee ran off to investigate, and they saw Keith creep in. “Oh, come on!”

 

Keith was able to take out the Di-Lee inside with ease, and he cut Shiro loose.”

“No, no, no, no.” Huh? Oh. Lance and Hunk. When had _they_ gotten here? “I’m saving Shiro!” Keith sighed. Fine. Let Lance think he’d helped.

Keith peeked out the door. “They’re coming back!”

Lance grinned. “Leave this to me.” He opened his water pouch, and a small amount slid out and froze underneath the feet of the Di-Lee. They skidded on the ice and fell in a heap. “Ha, ha!”

“Lance, you’re a water-bender!”

Lance looked at Keith, smirking. “I know.”

“How have you not been drafted?”

Lance’s expression shifted from smug to _are you crazy_. “Uh, by not telling anybody. Can’t draft what they don’t know. And I believe we were leaving?” Keith shook his head to clear it and plunged forward. He stuck his head out the window and then started to pull half-conscious Shiro through the window. Lance dug his heels in. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. We are _not_ jumping out a window.”

“Why not?”

“Do the words _imminent death_ strike your fancy?”

Keith rolled his eyes. “You seriously thought I was going to jump.”

“Yes! Because you are impulsive!”

“Hunk, can you soften the ground before we land?”

“I think so.”

“Good enough, now we can jump.”

“Wait, what?” Too late. Keith was out the window, and Lance was forced to go out as well, or let go of Shiro. Unfortunately, the latter option didn’t occur to him until they were halfway down. When they hit the ground, however, Hunk made it… almost bouncy, keeping them from breaking every bone in their bodies.

“Worst. Idea. _Ever_ ,” Lance groaned, “Next time we avoid jumping off of buildings.”

“Uh, guys?”

“What?”

“We’re maybe surrounded.” Lance and Keith stopped glaring at each other to see the Di-Lee moving in closer. They were out of tricks.

Or maybe not. Vines erupted out of the street and wrapped around the Di-Lee agents, catching them by surprise. A familiar short and very welcome form appeared before them, a flash of recognition sparking behind those massive glasses at the sight of Shiro.

“Well,” asked Pidge, “Are we getting out of here?”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo-hoo! Shiro actually gets to talk!

“Pidge? What are you doing here?”

“Saving you!”

“We were fine!”

“Oh, I can see that by the _excellent job you’re doing_!”

“Guys, Guys, settle down and _run_!” Hunk grabbed Lance and Pidge, pulling them along, Lance still refusing to let go of Shiro. They ran through the streets, knocking over a man’s cabbage cart, crashing through a tea shop. The Di-Lee were out of the vines remarkably fast and were pursuing the teens. When they reached the wall, Hunk catapulted them all up over it. Softening the ground beneath them for landing.

“Where to? Pidge’s place?”

“No! They’ve seen me! They’ll be waiting for us! We have to get out of the city and by the Avatar, is that a Fire-Nation airship?”

“Looks like a way out to me! Hunk, would you do the honors?” Hunk catapulted them up, and they crashed through a window.

“Ow,” muttered Lance, “I thought that would look a _lot_ cooler.” The Fire-Nation soldiers inside stared at them.

“Hi, we’re just passing through, mind if we catch a ride?”

“Earth-Kingdom invaders!”

“That’s what I figured.”

The door slammed open, and a whirlwind blazed in. Not a literal whirlwind, but the white haired girl seemed like one. She used a staff to knock out the Fire-Nation soldiers before pointing her weapon at the others. “Who are you?” She looked behind them, a momentary look of panic crossing her face. “You’ve got a Fire-Nation soldier behind you!” Keith barely had time to register that _oh, she was talking about him_ before her staff came crashing down on his head.

 

 

“Hey.” Keith sat straight up. Shiro was smiling at him.

“You’re awake!”

“And so are you.”

The white haired girl was glaring distrustfully at Keith. “I _still_ don’t see why you travel with a Fire-Nation citizen.”

Keith banged his head on a wall repeatedly. “I. Am. Not. _Fire-Nation_!” Was it his imagination, or did Shiro wince a little when he said that?

The white haired girl tilted her head. “Oh. Apologies. I am Allura, princess, or what passes for one, of the Air-Nomads. Please forgive me I assumed, with your, ah…”

Keith sighed. “My pale skin and faintly yellow eyes. I get that a lot, thanks.”

“I’m sorry. It seems we have a common enemy in the Fire-Nation. They wiped out my race. As I said, I am Allura, and this,” she gestured to an orange-haired man who was flying the airship, “is Coran, my royal advisor. But who are you?”

“I’m Shiro, a soldier for the Earth-Kingdom. This is my brother, Keith.”

Allura squinted for a moment, as if trying to see a family resemblance (the fact that Shiro hadn’t said adopted brother made Keith feel warm and tingly inside), before turning to the others. “And you?”

“I’m Hunk, and this is Lance. We’re soldiers in training.” The big boy sighed. “Or were. Don’t know if that still holds true. And this is Pidge, who was a farmer outside the inner wall. He’s also an accomplished hawker.”

“A what?”

“I am able to intercept messages and send my own when it comes to hawks.”

“Coran and I… We’ve been trying to restore peace by fighting the Fire-Nation, but we need some help. You all seem like accomplished benders and fighters; how would you like to join us?”

 

 

Lance woke up suddenly, sure that something was calling him. He slipped out of bed and moved in the direction he felt his pull. He moved quietly through the hallways until something screamed at him, _here, I’m here!_ He pushed open the door, and he found… a small statue, made of a blue stone he was pretty sure was sapphire. But it was the weirdest looking animal he’d ever seen. It was like a lion turtle, but without the turtle.  And it seemed… happy to see him.

 

 

Hunk got up, rubbing his stomach. He was almost sure something else had woken him, but he couldn’t place the feeling. But, instead of turning right at the turn to the kitchen, he turned left. He didn’t know why, he just did. And he found a room with a beautiful statue made of yellow topaz.

 

 

Pidge was scrounging the ship for messenger hawk feed, just in case, when she found a glittering green statue. She felt, even though it probably belonged to Allura, as if it was hers.

 

 

Keith was a restless sleeper, and he was roaming the airship. It wasn’t long before he was utterly and completely lost. When he came to a familiar turn, he turned a different way, instead of the way he knew led back to his room. There, glittering like fire, was a ruby-red little lion.

 

 

Shiro awoke, drenched in sweat, from a nightmare. He shuddered, but felt the pull of something calming. He clenched and unclenched his stone hand, and then got up to investigate. He was looking around, when the calming presence pulled harder.

“I’m coming,” he muttered, “I’m coming.” He was back on the bridge, and he pulled open a compartment in the floor and pulled out an obsidian statue. It growled softly at him.

The lights flickered on, and Allura was waiting with the others behind her, each looking like they knew they were in trouble, but didn’t know what for.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Shiro froze. “I… I’m sorry,” he stammered. Allura was scary. He kept a firm hold on the lion though, and didn’t offer it to her. “I just had this feeling, and I followed it, and I found this- Am I in trouble?” The others echoed this sentiment.

Allura grinned suddenly and broadly. “No! This is fantastic! I knew you were special! Didn’t I say so, Coran?”

“After you knocked Keith out, yes. Very special.”

“Okay.” Hunk held up his hands. “Hold up. What have we done?”

“You’ve unlocked the lions! They are living, sentient beings, and they enhance bending or fighting abilities. This means we finally have the power we need to fight General Zarkon!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait. General Zarkon? As in the one who wiped out the air-benders?”

“The same. He’s ruthless and won’t stop until the world belongs to the Fire Nation. Will you help me?” She held a hand out.

Shiro hesitated a moment catching the others’ eyes. They nodded. “We’re in, princess. What do you need us to do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *cracks knuckles excitedly* okay, I have no idea what I'm doing, this was as far as I planned. Let's see what happens!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They save a village. party time. Guess what happens next chapter?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought this was pretty good for running on an empty tank of creativity, but you tell me.

“We’re in place.”

“Good. See that supply line?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s going to the Fire-Nation soldiers. Try not to destroy too much of it, because it was taken from farmers around here, and it would be best if we could bring it back to them.”

“Got it. Hear that?”

“Yeah, yeah,” chattered Lance, “No smashing, I got it. But you _miiiiight_ have to remind Keith.”

Keith glared. “At least _I_ don’t slip my own teammates with ice!”

“ _One_ time!”

“Keith! Lance!” Both of them snapped to attention. “Be careful, both of you, okay? No showboating.”

“Yes sir.”

“Alright. Go!” The five jumped out of their hiding places, catching the soldiers by surprise. Shiro was always amazed by how effective just a little bit of water was in Lance’s hands, and how effective Hunk’s methods were, considering that no one was ever hurt when he defeated them. He, Keith and Pidge, on the other hand, were perfectly fine with knocking a few heads, and it was shamefully satisfying to hear their jaws crack under his stone fist. With the extra power the lions gave them, it wasn’t long before all of the soldiers were safely wrapped up in Pidge’s vines, and they were ready to bring the supplies back.

“Pidge! Let’s get moving!”

“Just a minute!”

“ _Pidge_. If we don’t get moving, the rest of the soldiers will start looking for their supplies.”

“These guys might know about the rest of your squad! I need to ask some questions!”

“There’s no time! Leave them!”

“No! With all due respect, Shirogane, I can’t do that. Lieutenant-Commander Holt was my father, and Matthew Holt my brother. If these men have information about them, _that_ is my priority.”

Shiro hesitated. “Fine. Keith! Lance! Hunk! Get these wagons rolling! Pidge and I will join you in a minute!” The three boys nodded and got started. Shiro knelt next to one of the captured soldiers. “Hey. What can you tell me about Earth kingdom squad seven of the Kerberos mission?”

The man spat at him. “Dirt people. We were waiting with the rhino riders for them. They never stood a chance.” The soldier’s eyes widened as he focused on Shiro’s face. “It’s you! The Champion!”

“Hey! You!” The rest of the soldiers had caught up with them. Well, this wasn’t exactly going as planned. Shiro felt a sudden pain blaze through him, and his arm glowed. He collapsed to one knee, having gotten up to fight, and he could hear Pidge’s far off voice calling his name. He breathed in and out and re-exerted control over his arm. It blazed with a purple fire. The soldiers gasped, and some of them ran away. The rest were quickly knocked out.

“Where’d you learn to fight like that?”

Shiro stared at his arm, which faded back to normal grey stone. “I… I don’t know.”

 

 

When the food and animals were safely returned, the village celebrated, inviting their rescuers to stay for the night, even if they just landed the airship for the night. Allura politely declined, but agreed to stay for dinner.

Keith wandered off by himself, wanting some time alone. He walked into the forest, sure that no one would follow him. He was right, unfortunately.

Something snapped tight around his ankle. Was that a rabbit snare? He bent down to undo the trap, worried he might have ruined some poor villager’s trap. And then a stick smacked onto his head.

“Die, Fire-Nation! I don’t want you in my forest!” What the… how old was this kid, nine? He gave Keith a good smack on the shins with the stick. “Yahhhh!”

“Ouch! Hey! I’m on your… ow!” Keith attempted to grab the kid while hopping on one foot in pain. That just earned him a smack on the fingers. “Will you quit it? I don’t want your forest, I just want a walk!” This time he succeeded in grabbing the stick and throwing it into the undergrowth.

“Hey!” The fierce child punched him in the stomach. “That was my weapon!”

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t hit your allies with it!” He caught the tiny fists as they came around again. “Now hold still!” This just gave way to kicking and attempted biting.

“Fire-nation!”

“I’m really not.”

The attacks ceased, and the tiny head tilted. “You’re not?”

“No. I just returned food the Fire-Nation stole back to your village.”

A sniff. “Not my village. My village burned down.”

“Fire-Nation?”

“Yeah. They killed my parents.”

“Oh.” Keith got the vague feeling he was supposed to say something comforting. “I’m… sorry… I… I never really knew my parents either. My name’s Keith, what’s yours?”

Another sniff, but this one sad, not haughty. “Jet. I’m gonna be a resistance fighter! Everybody else is too cowardly, but I’m going to change everything!”

Keith allowed himself a rare smile. “You do that. And don't let _anyone_ stop you.”

 

“Keith! Where are you?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well, thanks Keith, we have you to blame for the Jet fiasco. Next Chapter: Lance gets blown up!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! Sorry this took so long!

“Hey, Lance!”

Lance looked up from the odd drink he’d been deciding whether or not to drink.

“I never asked.” Pidge looked embarrassed. “Um, how did a water-bender end up in Ba-Sing-Sae?”

“Oh. Well, my parents were from the Southern Water Tribe, and they were helping with the war. One day they… you know, got together, and nine months later, were in Ba-Sing-Sae with my mom in labor. She gave birth to me, and we were happy for a little while. And then… they wanted to go to war again. So they did, leaving me behind with a neighbor for a while. They wrote letters, but it wasn’t the same, because there was never any guarantee that my letters would reach them. I decided I wanted to join them in the war, so I signed up in the military as a non-bender, and here I am now.” He sighed. “I miss them.”

Pidge softened. “My dad and brother are gone too.”

Lance sniffed a little. “Now you’re making me feel bad, because at least I have letters. We’ll get your family back, I’m sure. I… I gotta go.” He left quickly before anyone could see his tears.

 

 

Allura looked at her pet mice. She normally kept them away from the battles, but today was different, peaceful. They squeaked and jumped up and down to get her attention. One of them mimed catching a hawk.

“What about Pidge?” another mouse batted her eyes and mimed wearing a skirt.

“Pidge is a _what_?!”

 

“Coran?”

“What can I do for you, Lance?”

“Do you… miss your home?”

Coran’s eyes softened. “Ah, yes. The temples. In one of them, there was always a danger that they would fall off of the cliff they were hanging from. And all of them were treacherous places for a non-bender. But I loved them. Do you miss your home?”

“I… I don’t even know where home is. I’ve lived in Ba-Sing-Sae all my life, but it’s not really home. I’ve never seen snow, and I’ve barely ever seen ice, and yet I miss the South Pole. Does that make sense?”

“In its own way, yes. As a non-bender, I’ve never soared through the sky, and yet… I feel a longing to glide in the clouds.” He patted Lance’s shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll get there, Lance.” He walked out of the room. Lance stared at a map hanging on the wall for a few moments before following him out. One of Pidge’s messenger hawks flew past him.

“Hey there little… Wait a minute. Where’s Pidge?” The messenger hawk dropped something near the gas tank and flew out. The object sizzled and popped.

“Coran! GET DOWN!” Lance tackled the air nomad to the ground as the bomb went off.

 

“What was that?” Pidge looked nervously at Allura, who sprinted for the control room, shoving through panicked villagers who were trying to get back to their homes. Pidge, Hunk, Keith and Shiro followed.

 

Coran got up, coughing with Allura’s help.

“Coran, what’s happening?”

“There was a bomb… Lance pushed me out of the way…”

“Lance!” Shiro ran through the smoke. The water-bender was lying on the ground, covered in burns, motionless. Shiro picked him up gently. “Coma.”

“The north pole.” Everybody looked at Allura. “The north pole has people who can help him. But we can’t get anywhere fast enough without this blimp working. And the gas tank is gone.”

“Hunk and I can fix the crystal,” Coran said, tugging thoughtfully on his mustache, “We can use one of those tanks in the storage bay.”

Allura looked out the window and gasped. “The village! It’s on fire! We have to help them. Shiro, you stay here with Lance and guard the blimp. Coran, Hunk, you two get going, and Pidge, you help too. Keith, you come with me.” She marched out of the door. Keith grabbed his sword and followed. The others scattered to follow Allura’s instructions.

 

“Be careful Keith. It could be a trap.” Keith nodded and carefully jumped down into the burning village. He saw two soldiers standing, weapons at the ready. He slunk back, but one of their heads fell off, and then both collapsed in a pile.

“Allura! It’s a trap! We need to get back to the blimp!”

 

 

Shiro walked to the ramp leading onto the blimp, carrying Lance. He looked down, and there was Commander Sendak, the person they had _just_ defeated in defense of the village. Obviously, the guy didn’t know when to quit. Shiro gently set Lance down and activated his arm, letting the purple flames creep up the stone.

Sendak grinned and hefted a heavy mace that also glowed purple. “You have spirit, paladin. It will be a pleasure to break you again”

“Get out of here. I won’t tell you twice.”

“This is a fire nation airship. You have some nerve telling _me_ to leave.”

Shiro growled and rushed him swinging his arm up towards Sendak’s face, but his blow was blocked by the mace. Sendak was stronger, and Shiro was shoved backwards. He didn’t see that the mace-head detached until it came flying towards him. He barely dodged, and while the dust settled, Sendak used the retractable chain attaching the mace head to the rest of the mace to jump in, slamming Shiro backwards. The two sparred, arm and mace whirling in deadly flashes of purple. Eventually they came to a standstill, Shiro’s arm at Sendak’s throat, Sendak’s mace at Shiro’s, both of them daring the other to move.

“Stand down.” Shiro glanced over. One of Sendak’s men had an unconscious Lance. “Or your friend isn’t going to make it.” Shiro let his arm drop, and Sendak smashed him over the head.

 

 

Allura and Keith ran back to the airship, but they were too late. A wall of flame erupted around the airship, flames too hot for them to quell with water from the river.

 

 

“Hunk, let me see that- What was that?” The whole airship was shaking. “Are we taking off? That’s not possible!”

Pidge stood up. “I’ll check it out.”

“Be careful, Pidge. Obviously the fire nation is still out there, and you need to stay safe.”

Pidge grabbed a grappling hook chain and smiled. “I think I’ve got this.”

 

 

“How are the power levels?”

Pidge edged around the corner, spotting two fire nation soldiers manning the controls.

“The bomb did quite a number, but it’ll be fairly easy to repair.”

Pidge gasped softly as she saw something else. Shiro, chained up, and next to him, Lance, still unconscious.

“What was that?”

Pidge flattened herself against the wall. No matter what, she couldn’t let them find Hunk and Coran, and she _certainly_ couldn’t let them take off, especially without Allura and Keith.

“What’s wrong?”

“I thought I heard something.”

“You _thought_? It could be one of those meddling benders. Go see.”

Pidge dashed down the hallway, turning towards to the stairs leading to the blimp. She climbed up and looked at all the catwalks. Hm…

She aimed her grappling hook at the material covering the skeletal frame, and released the mechanism. It tore a hole. She smiled, satisfied. Let them try taking off with that. She tore another one, just to make sure.

Footsteps echoed in the catwalks, and Pidge grappled onto a nearby catwalk and carefully clung to it.

“Hmmm… Now where’s the little rat that tore a hole?” Pidge tried to regulate her breathing. I think he’s… _there_!” Pidge barely dodged his fire-bending blast, and then he was up there with her. She fired her grappling hook at him, but he dodged, grabbing the chain and yanked, launching her over the edge. She yelped as she barely managed to grapple onto another beam. He chased after her, trying to sever her chain. He managed to do that, and looked down, expecting to spot Pidge plummeting to her death. But he didn’t.

Pidge swung over the edge of the beam, shouting fiercely, behind the Fire Nation soldier, kicking his legs out from under him. She’d managed to get a good swing up when he’d cut the chain, letting her flip up when the chain had been cut. He tumbled over the edge, but managed to grab onto her ankle at the last minute. Fire-bender and plant-bender tumbled over the edge, Pidge grabbing onto the edge of the beam, the weight of the fire-bender yanking on her ankle. She pulled out a few seeds and dropped them below her, making them sprout and grow while on the fire-bender’s face, roots digging into his skin. He screamed and released her, plunging to his death. She exhaled, glad to have that over with.

 

 

Allura closed her eyes and heard a little squeaking noise in the back of her mind.

“The mice!”

Keith looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “What?”

“The mice! They can turn on the sprinkler system, I’m sure of it! _We_ can’t put out this fire, but maybe they can! Friends,” she murmured, “help us, please.”

 

 

In Allura’s room, four mice looked up from the pillow where they’d been asleep. They’d just had the same linear thought that had probably come from Allura: “Turn on the sprinklers.” They knew where that button was. They could do it. They also got an overall feeling that there was something dangerous in the airship that they should avoid at all costs. So they crept into an air duct.

 

“Ajax?”

Pidge cursed. The intercom! Of course Sendak would have thought to use it to check up on his comrade at some point. It was a good thing that she’d disabled the line to the tank room. Hunk and Coran would flip if they found out the Fire Nation had Shiro and Lance captive.

“Ajax, report! Report now, or I’m going to come find you, and you won’t like it!”

Pidge sighed and pressed the button.

“Ajax. Report. Have you found our stowaway?”

“Ajax is dead. And you will be too if you don’t leave this ship.”

“Meddling bender. How about a different deal? I’d like you to hear your friend, Shiro.”

“Pidge?” Pidge froze as Shiro’s voice came on. “Pidge, whatever you do, don’t listen to them. Don’t do _anything_ they tell you to. Don’t-” his voice broke off into a scream, and Pidge sucked in a deep breath of horror.

The screaming stopped, and Sendak came back on. “Surrender, or he’ll suffer worse.” The intercom shut off.

Pidge bit her lip and tried not to cry. She was going to have to confront Sendak.

 

 

The mice traveled safely through the vents, avoiding The Great Big Nasty That Allura Feared. They were almost there; they could see the button. They carefully climbed out of the vent and avoided an Evil Thing by forcing it to punch itself in the face. They were too fast for The Evil Thing. They looked at all the buttons before jumping on the one with water on it. That had to do something, right? They jumped up and down at the sound of the sprinklers. Allura would be proud of them.

 

 

“Plant bender. You came. Can’t say I’m surprised.”

“Sendak, let them go!”

“Never!” He released his mace-head, and Pidge barely dodged, shooting her grappling hook at his face. He easily avoided it and then smacked Pidge with his fist. He raised his mace for the final blow. Pidge shielded her face with her hand, closing her eyes, even though she knew it wouldn’t do her any good, waiting for the final blow…

…But it never came. Pidge opened her eyes to see Keith, sword up, blocking the otherwise fatal blow. Shiro tried to intervene, but was just knocked away, unable to get close with his arms pinned. Pidge moved away and shot her grappling hook again as Sendak slammed Keith across the room. Sendak grabbed onto the chain and yanked, pulling Pidge to him.

“Nobody move!” Sendak smirked, sure he’d backed them into a corner

He wasn’t expecting an attack from Lance, who until this point had been in his coma. The water-bender shot a shard of ice at Sendak, slicing him in the arm. Sendak screeched and let Pidge go in time for Keith to punch him in the face, knocking him back onto a sparking control panel. There was a sharp _pop_ , and Sendak screamed as he was electrocuted, dropping to the floor, dead.

 

 

Pidge sliced off Shiro’s bonds as Hunk and Coran came in with the new tank, completely nonplussed by the scene in front of them.

“Wow,” Hunk laughed nervously, “You guys had a busy day.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right then. If there's not another chapter out by summer, then there won't be one until after summer.


	7. Chapter 7

“You! Hold on a moment!”

Pidge stopped and looked at the woman who had beckoned her. What did she want?

The woman smiled kindly and beckoned. “I just want to talk to you, dear.”

 

 

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No, no. I just want to know. They’ve been calling you “he,” and it confused me. You are a female, right?”

“How did you…”

“Dear, I’ve been healing for a long time. I can tell women from men, no matter how hard they try.”

Pidge sighed. “Yeah. I’ve been disguising as a boy.”

“May I ask why?”

“Because it’s hard to get anywhere as a girl. If people know that you own the farm you’re selling from, they’re less likely to buy. Girls can’t go into the military unless they’re skilled earth-benders. A plant bender can’t.”

“Are you going to tell them,” the healer nodded out the window to where the others were shivering, not used to the cold, “Or are you keeping it a secret?”

“I… I don’t know. I mean… I feel like they would still accept me, but I want to make sure before I do anything reckless.”

“You shouldn’t be ashamed of who you are,” the healer remarked softly, “You were born perfect, and others should know and accept that.” She turned back to Pidge with a smile. “Now, let’s go see how my students are doing with your friend.”

 

 

“Lance! You’re awake!” Hunk nearly crushed his friend in a hug. “We were so worried!”

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Why is everything so… cold? I mean, it feels good, but why is it cold?”

“We’re in the North Pole!”

Lance shot straight up. “Wait, really?”

“Yeah, man!”

Lance tore out the door, and everybody else followed, laughing.

“Look! Hunk, it’s snow!”

“I know,” Hunk laughed, “you love it, don’t you?”

“Oh yeah!” He picked up a handful of snow and threw it into the air, laughing. “This is great!”

Shiro and Keith left the healer’s house, and Shiro was promptly hit in the face by a snowball.

“Hey!”

“Sorry,” Lance called, “I was aiming for Keith!”

“You’re a water bender! You can control the snowballs!”

Lance paused. “Oh. Yeah.” He grinned and whipped one at Keith, this time hitting his target, and suddenly snowballs were flying everywhere. The members of the Northern Water Tribe watched them with puzzled expressions. Had they never seen snow before? Honestly, even the adult was acting like a child.

Lance was knocked off of his feet and sent into a pile of snow. Everybody grew silent as they looked at Lance’s feet, sticking out of the snow pile, and then back at Keith, who had thrown the snowball.

Then Lance’s head popped back up and, with a wave of his hands, he collapsed a pile of snow off of a roof on top of Keith’s head. Everybody laughed as Keith dug his way out, looking like the world’s angriest snowman.

 

 

“Hey, can you teach me how to do that?”

The healer looked at Lance surprised. “To do what?”

“That healing thing. That would be really useful.”

“You want to learn to heal? That’s interesting. Most boys learn to fight.”

Lance shrugged. “Fighting’s alright, but I’d rather be able to heal others. To build instead of breaking. We need that more than we need more soldiers.”

The healer stared at him for a moment before bursting out laughing. “Hey, hey, Poku,” she called, “Get in here.”

A man stuck his head in the window. “Yeah?”

“Get this. This kid wants to learn to heal.”

“Well, that’s a first. I’ve had plenty of girls who wanted to learn to fight, but this is the first boy I’ve seen want to heal.”

“I know, right! Alright, you lose! Pay up!”

“What?”

“The bet you made! Pay up!”

“Wait, you’re still going to hold me to that? That was years ago!”

“Doesn’t matter! You bet me that no boy would ever want to heal, not in my lifetime! But here’s one now! So you better pay up!”

“Argh!” The one named Poku pulled some coins into the healer’s hand and stalked off, muttering about “crazy women.”

“So… is that a no? You live in a sexist community where only girls get to heal, and only guys get to fight?”

Her face crinkled into a smile. “No, no. Poku doesn’t allow girls in, sadly, but I have no such qualms. It is traditional that healing is a woman’s job, but not a law. Just no boy has ever wanted to do it. You are a special one, aren’t you?”

“I like to think so.”

She smiled at him again. “Come with me. I’ll teach you all that I know.”

 

 

“Pidge? What’s wrong?”

Pidge was tugging on Lance’s arm, also dragging hunk. “Come on, we’re having a meeting, and we need all of you.”

Hunk and Lance gave each other bewildered looks. What was wrong with him?

 

 

“Okay. So, I have something I need to tell all of you.” Pidge took a deep breath. This was what she had feared. The stares, the curiosity. “I’m not actually… a guy. I’m a girl, I’ve been lying to all of you.” She stared at the floor. “Sorry.”

“Oh, yeah, well, I kind of figured.”

Pidge’s head shot up and she stared at Hunk. “Wait, what?”

“Oh, yeah,” Keith quickly swooped in, “Me too.”

Allura smiled reassuringly. “I’ve known for a while.”

Coran squinted at her. “Wait, we were supposed to think you were a boy?”

Shiro smiled encouragingly. “No matter what, you’re still a part of our team.”

Pidge’s eyes welled up. She couldn’t’ve asked for a better team. “Thank you,” she whispered, “Thank you for understanding.”

Then they all noticed Lance. He was staring at Pidge with his mouth open, eyes widened as far as was humanly possible, and then some.

“Wait, he’s a… You’re a… Ah!”

Everybody laughed as Pidge rolled her eyes. "Glad to see you're caught up to the rest of us."

 

"Hey, wait up!"

Lance looked curiously at the little kids running towards him. What did they want? "Hi. Can I help you guys?"

"You're from the Southern Water Tribe, right?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Have you heard about a couple? Dakota and Kendo?"

Lance felt a chill run down his spine. "They're my parents."

The youngest jumped up and down excitedly, hugging Lance. "I told you," she squealed, " I told you! You're our older brother," she informed Lance, "Dad and Mom stayed here for a while, and they told us all about you!"

"Are they here now?"

"No. They left for war again."

Lance slumped a moment. So close. But then he brightened again. He had siblings! They were the spitting images of his parents, too. "Wow, that is just... Wow. I can't believe... Come here, guys." They all piled in for a hug, and for the first time in a long time, Lance felt truly wanted. He knew it couldn't last. He knew he would be leaving the next day, but for now he was happy. For now he was content.

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaand, here's where we just go completely off of the Voltron plot line because I want to do my own story. I'll get back to the actual plot line eventually. Eventually.

"Wait, you're sending me on a mission with Keith?"

Keith glanced uneasily at Lance, but didn't argue.

"Why?!"

"Because you two need to learn to work as a team. You're both accomplished fighters, but that's not going to mean anything if you can't cooperate with each other."

"Shiro is right," Allura added, "If you two argue and fight, it drags down the whole team, and we can't have that. It'll get you both into trouble."

"But you're sending the two of us _alone!_ What if the arguing problem gets us into trouble while we're out there!"

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger," Allura stated cheerfully.

Lance looked at Keith as if this trip just might kill him, but he stopped arguing, sensing that it was getting him nowhere.

Shiro smiled encouragingly. "It's just a recon mission. You two will be fine. You're just going to scout out another colony to free. In and out."

 

 

"Keith, can I take a look with the binoculars?"

"No."

"Oh. Okay." Lance drummed his fingers against his leg absentmindedly. The two boys were hiding on a steep hill close to the village, covered by bushes. Keith reached over and pinned Lance's fingers to his leg.

"Stop tapping."

"Well, I'm bored. And you're hogging the binoculars."

Keith let out a sigh and handed him the binoculars. "Here. Not much to see."

"Then why were you hogging them?" Lance surveyed the town. It didn't look like any more than the usual number of soldiers.

"I was hoping to see something else. But right now it's the same as everywhere else. Bleak, desolate and not much hope in the villagers."

"Which is why we have to help them."

Keith nodded. "That's what Shiro says. Let me see the binoculars."

"You literally _just_ had them."

"Can't you just make some out of ice or something?"

Lance opened his mouth to retort and then closed it. "I never thought of that."

Keith muttered something about "stupid benders who never think beyond fighting with their talents." Lance felt a little bad. After all, Keith was the only one of them who couldn't bend. Allura and Coram didn't count, since they didn't work in the field. He created two little tubes of ice before freezing water into little plates and positioning them like the mirrors and lenses in the binoculars. It worked surprisingly well, and Lance could see into the town. He focused the binoculars on the base of the hill to make sure no one following and then stifled a shout.

At the foot of the hill was a little kid who was earth bending, but there were Fire Nation soldiers creeping up behind him. As Lance watched, they grabbed him by the arms and started dragging him away.

He couldn't just let this happen. He remembered ten years ago when he'd barely escaped being dragged away for no reason. He glanced at Keith. He was still absorbed in watching the town. Lance slipped away and used ice to slide down the side of the hill, skidding to a halt when he reached the kidnappers.

"Hey! Let him go!"

"Beat it, kid. Rules are rules. Keep the earth benders locked away."

Lance slid around them, holding his arms out to prevent him from going farther. "Leave him alone."

The soldiers just laughed and one of them shoved Lance into the river. They continued dragging the young earth bender away, which was easier said than done since he was making little craters in the ground with his feet and rocking the land.

The river exploded into a cyclone of fury with Lance at the center of it. He could feel strength from his lion fueling him as he lashed out at the soldiers with tentacles of water, knocking them aside like trees in a hurricane.

 

Keith trained his binoculars on a couple of soldiers who were unloading crates into the village. His eyes widened as he recognized the boxes as crates of blasting jelly. What was the Fire Nation planning?

"Are you seeing this," he whispered to his teammate, "We have to tell Shiro!" No reply. "Lance?" Keith tore his eyes from the binoculars to see an empty spot where his teammate had been. "This can't be happening." He scanned the whole valley before seeing the water bender grabbing a child and leaving two unconscious soldiers behind. He hadn't been as stealthy as he thought, though, because reinforcements were on their way. Keith groaned and grabbed his sword, sliding down the hill. He had to get there first.

 

 

"Lance! Lance!"

Lance looked up to see Keith tearing down towards him, sword out. "Can't you be just a _little_ more stealthy," he whisper-shouted, "I'm in a quiet escape! And don't run with sharp objects!"

Keith skidded to a halt in front of him, panting. "You're... not... stealthy. They're... coming."

A chill ran down Lance's spine. It was one thing to take your enemies by surprise with your talented bender-friends with you and an airship nearby for extraction if something went wrong, but it was quite another thing to be hunted down with only one accomplished swordsman and a little kid who you'd probably be protecting to help you.

The little boy tugged on Lance's arm. "Let's go, let's go, they're coming!"

"I know. We're going."

"Going where," Keith asked.

"Forest," the little boy shouted, "We can hide there!"

Lance looked to Keith, who shrugged. "Good a place as any."

"Forest it is."

By the time the Fire Nation arrived they were long gone.

 

A fire sizzled and popped, the two boys staring into it. The boy, whose name was Haru, had fallen asleep, Lance's jacket draped over him like a blanket.

"Keith?"

Keith's head snapped up when Lance called his name. "Yeah?"

"Where'd you come from? I mean, I know you lived in Ba-Sing-Sae, but are you and Shiro actually related?"

Keith smiled briefly. "No, but we may as well be. I've known him all my life."

When Keith didn't elaborate, Lance cleared his throat "So, where are you from, then?"

"I have no idea. Shiro said that he found me when he was eight in a burned out village. I have no idea who my family was, or even if they're alive." He threw a stick into the flames, watching the fire creep onto it and slowly turn it black. "Knowing the Fire Nation, their survival is really unlikely. Shiro's all I've got."

"Oh." Normally, Lance was pretty smooth with words. Right now... They failed him. _Thanks a lot, words._ Haru shifted and mumbled in his sleep, scratching his nose. Lance shifted the jacket to cover him more, and he let out a sigh, settling down.

A little half-smile appeared on Keith's face. "I met a kid like him once. Cute kid. Tried to brain me with a stick."

"Very cute." Lance stared into the fire for a couple moments. "When did Allura say she would pick us up?"

"Tomorrow. You know we can't keep him, right?"

"What?"

"We can't keep Haru."

"Why not? I mean, if he has parents we obviously can't keep him, but what if he's an orphan?" The unspoken 'like you' hovered in the air.

"Lance, we're always traveling, always fighting. He's four. The front lines of a rebellion against the Fire Nation aren't somewhere a four year old  should be."

"It's not really a place for teenagers either," Lance remarked softly, "or peaceful Air Nomads."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Keith replied equally softly, "what happened to the Air Nomads can't be allowed to happen again. The fire benders have to be stopped."

 

 

A woman screamed and held out her arms when Lance and Keith turned the corner. Haru let go of Lance's hand and ran up to her grinning and shouting,

"Mama!"

The woman swept Haru up into her arms. "Haru! Where _were_ you?! I thought you'd fallen into the river! Or that those Fire Nation thugs had gotten you!"

"They tried, but Lance saved me! And then Keith warned him that the Fire Nation was coming, and we ran away into the forest, and they made a fire and we slept outdoors!" He leaned in close to his mother's ear and whispered, loud enough that he might as well be shouting, "Keith doesn't have a family. Can we keep him?"

Keith's throat closed up. The way Haru's mother was smiling at them, and the little boy's statement... He wasn't sure what to do.

Haru clapped his hands. "Can we keep Lance too?!"

Haru's mother smiled at her son. "I think that that should be their decision, don't you?" She turned her smile on Keith and Lance. "You're welcome to stay here as long as you need to."

Lance glanced at Keith. He was being unusually quiet. Not that the guy was very talkative anyway, but he didn't seem to even be answering questions posed to him. Lance smiled at Haru's mother. "That's very kind of you, but we're just passing through. We got separated from our friends, and we should get back." He lowered his voice and glanced around. "If you hear any commotion, or soldiers yelling in the next few weeks, get Haru inside. Don't go outside. Lock your door. Tell all your neighbors, okay?"

Haru's mother nodded knowingly. "I will. Thank you for everything."

Lance brightened. "Our pleasure, really. It was nice meeting you!" He ruffled Haru's hair. "You take care, squirt! Take care of your mom, okay? And keep practicing your bending. Just do yourself a favor and go into the forest to practice, okay?"

"Okay! See you later! Bye!"

 

A few weeks later the Fire Nation had been driven from the village, and Haru was right there, cheering.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And ten years later, Katara, Aang and Sock find him in the forest, earth bending.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know why I wrote this chapter. it started out as a Keith-Hunk bonding trip and dissolved into the chapter you see here.

"Remind me why we're climbing a mountain again?" Hunk puffed, and stopped to catch his breath. Keith sat down next to him.

"In case the Fire Nation is here. After that last sneak attack, Allura wants to make sure that there are no Fire Nation soldiers anywhere remotely close to where she's landing the airship."

"I just wish she'd let me use my bending. This would go a lot faster. But no, just in case any Fire Nation creeps are up here, even though I can answer that question for her: there aren't, because if there were, they'd have lit a nice fire to keep warm on this Avatar-forsaken mountain."

"We should have brought our North Pole parkas," Keith agreed. He shivered in his thin jacket.

"Is that snow?" Hunk groaned as the white fluffy-looking stuff got closer. "It is. Fantastic. I wish we'd brought Lance along."

"Then you'd just have to listen to him baiting me the whole way up."

"And you falling for it."

Keith's head whipped around so fast Hunk thought he'd gotten whiplash, frowning and generally looking like he wanted to bite Hunk's head off. "What do you mean and I fall-" he broke off abruptly as he saw the big earth bender raise one eyebrow. "Oh. Well. Pick your poison."

Hunk grunted as he plowed through a snowbank. "If I was getting through easily, I'm sure I would want you or Lance gone, but right now a waterbender seems like a blessing. Oh, great, a frozen lake."

Keith frowned at the supposedly frozen lake. "Hunk, I've got a bad feeling about this. Don't go across that lake."

"Your feelings, huh? Where were your feelings when we were attacked by the Fire Nation? It might be slippery, but it's not snow. Come on. It's fine."

Just then, there was a loud crack. Hunk looked nervously at his feet. He was in the middle of the lake now, and there was a crack in the ice.

"Hunk," Keith said quietly, "don't move." Hunk froze.  Keith bit his lip. Now what? What was he supposed to do? He silently cursed the fact that he couldn't bend. If Shiro were here, he could have stretched a stone across to the stranded earth bender. Pidge could grow a vine to stretch to him, and Lance... Well, the lake wouldn't have cracked if Lance was here. He remembered what the Northern Water Tribe had told him about ice. "Hunk. Lay down. Gently," he added as the crack spider-webbed out.

Hunk followed Keith's instructions, terrified. Why had he decided this was a good idea?

"Can you move towards me?"

Hunk slid a little, and the cracks grew. He stopped, shaking his head. Keith carefully unsheathed his sword and attached the hilt to the end other scabbard, sliding the sheath to Hunk. The earth bender grabbed onto it desperately, buckling the belt around his chest. Keith wrapped a strip of cloth around the blade of the sword and pulled, gently sliding Hunk across the ice. The cracks widened and Keith pulled faster, but the ice splintered, and Hunk fell into the icy waters, the sword starting to slide in with him.

"Hunk!" The earth bender was out of sight, the icy shock stupefying him. Keith lunged for the edge of the sword, grabbing the open blade and pulling, yelling as the blade bit into his hand. Well. If the Fire Nation _was_ nearby, they certainly knew of their presence now. Hunk's head broke the surface of the water, unconscious. Keith finished dragging him across the surface of the ice, panting as he finally pulled the unconscious teen to the shore. He dropped the sword, staring at his bloodied hands. Alright then. The cold was really setting in now, and dark clouds were moving in the distance. Just what they needed right now.

"Hunk? Hunk can you hear me?" He gently patted the bigger boy's face. Hunk didn't respond, and he wasn't shivering. "Hunk? Come on, buddy, wake up!" He seemed to be breathing normally, but was cold to the touch. Keith looked apprehensively at the clouds, which were getting closer.

"I actually wouldn't mind being captured by the Fire Nation right now," he remarked as he hoisted Hunk up, slinging one of his arms over his shoulders, "at least we wouldn't freeze to death." He began the long trip back through the snow, trying his best to keep Hunk out of it. The wind was picking up, and he wrapped his scarf around his face. The snow was falling now, and Keith pushed desperately, trying to get out before the real storm hit.

They didn't make it. Keith was lost now, every angle the same; white, bleak, and hopeless. His hands had stopped hurting a while ago, going numb from the cold. "We'll- make- it, he wheezed to Hunk, still unconscious. "Just- hold- on." He dug little further in the snow... And found a trench. He'd gone in a circle.

"No!" Keith wailed in despair. Then he looked at Hunk. He couldn't give up now. He had to keep going, or they were dead. He pushed on, turning in a different direction. He had to keep moving.

 

"Where are they? They should be back by now!" Allura was pacing the airship, Shiro barely restraining from following her example. "What if they're stuck in the storm? I can't get over there! The wind is too strong!"

Lance looked out the window worriedly. "Maybe I should go out after them. I can control the snow."

Shiro put a hand on his shoulder. "It's too dangerous. This is a strong force of nature. I don't want to risk losing you out there. Those two are resourceful. I'm sure they'll be fine." He just wished he could convince himself that.

 

Keith struggled through another pile of snow. He was losing energy fast. He slapped himself awake. He couldn't fall asleep here. He wouldn't wake up. He wasn't entirely sure Hunk would at all. He stumbled and fell, having lost the feeling in in his feet a long time ago. He had to get up, had to keep moving. But he couldn't. He told himself not to sleep, but his tired body betrayed him, and he didn't get up.

 

A man dressed entirely in thick furs came upon the two passed-out boys. He'd been following their trail for hours, and was amazed at how far they'd gotten. He'd seen the bigger boy fall into the ice, and had moved to help, but the one in red had gotten his friend and headed back down the mountain before he could reach them and warn them about the incoming storm. Part of him was impressed with how far the red one had carried his friend, and the other part was annoyed that he'd stubbornly gone so far. He could've killed them all. He prodded each of them with the blunt end of his spear, but neither looked like they would wake up. He nodded to himself and slung the red one over his shoulder and pulling the big one up, one arm over his shoulder. Unlike these unprepared boys, he knew where he was going.

 

Keith sat straight up, gasping. Or tried to. Something was on his chest. A wave of panic swept over him as he realized what must have happened. They'd been captured by the Fire Nation! He had to find Hunk. Whatever was on his chest was solid and warm, but he attempted to shove it off, his efforts growing more and more frantic.

"Stop struggling. You need rest."

Keith couldn't see the speaker, but he assumed he was a jailer of some kind. "Why," he snarled," so you can kill me?"

"Now why would I do that?" The voice was amused now. "Especially after I went through so much trouble to rescue you from the storm."

"For fun? Execution rights? Whatever twisted reasons Fire Nation ever has for killing people."

"Son, do I look like the Fire Nation?"

"I don't know, it might help if you would move where I could see you."

There was a pause. "Kid? I'm sitting right next to you."

"No you're not. Are we still in the snow?"

"No." He was quiet for a moment, probably thinking. Keith looked irritably at all the whiteness. Who would live on a snow-covered mountain and paint the inside of their house white?!

"Kid? What can you see?" The man sounded nervous.

"Just white. Everywhere. What is on top of me?"

"My dog. He's warm. Snow blindness," he added to himself, "let's hope it's not permanent."

The dog gave Keith a slobbery lick. "Get off me, will you?" He pushed the dog, who whined, but obediently climbed off. "Where's my friend?"

"Right near you. He's sick, but he'll be alright, I think."

That was all Keith needed to hear. He grabbed Hunk's arm the next time the man started to mutter to himself and felt his way to the door, still unable to see anything besides whiteness. He stumbled to the entrance, and was nearly knocked backwards by the force of the wind. He pushed forward, but then was immediately grabbed from behind and shoved roughly to the floor, landing with a yelp on his injured hands.

"Are you crazy, boy?! That snowstorm is still raging out there! Are you _trying_ to kill your friend?! You can't even see!" He sighed and sat down with a _thump._ "Let me see those hands. They're bleeding again. Crazy boy," he murmured as he removed the bandages, "trying to fight nature. What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking I have no idea who you are or what you want." He stifled a yelp as the man poked at the cut.

"My name is Pasha. I just want to keep idiots like you from dying. And I have no idea who you are, but that didn't stop me from helping you. I could have left you in the snow to die."

"There would probably be plenty of people who would be happy if that had happened. My name is Keith. He's Hunk. We were scouting out the area for any Fire Nation activity."

"Rebels, huh? Good for you. I defend this mountain, but I don't get out much. Not enough of me."

Keith sat there, squinting as shapes slowly faded into existence. The whiteness was giving way to color, and he could see Pasha now. He was a well-built but older man with a spear slung over his shoulder. He looked like a mix between a member of the Water Tribes and an Earth Kingdom citizen.

"You could come with us" Keith blurted out, "You could help us."

Pasha smiled a little. "Nice offer, but I can't."

"Why not? I bet you're pretty good with that spear. We can always use another fighter."

"Well, you recovered from the snow blindness quickly. Sorry, young one. I'm pretty happy on my mountain. I'm too set in my ways. Besides. Maybe someday people will want to live on this mountain. They'll need someone to teach them how to live here, to tell them how best to defend their homes. And I'll be here for them."

 

"Okay, that's it. I'm going out and finding them. Don't try to stop me, Shiro." Lance got up, ready to fight tooth and nail for this. It had been a week since the storm had kicked up, and there was still no sign of the other paladins.

"I'm not going to stop you. I'm coming with you." Shiro turned to Allura. "Get us as close to that mountain as you can."

"Shiro, that storm..."

"Allura, Keith and Hunk are trapped out there. I'm going to find them."

"Me too!"

Shiro shook his head at the small plant bender. "Pidge, you need to stay here. That storm is too dangerous."

"What?! No! Hunk is my friend, and Keith's grown on me. I'm not just going to sit here while they're in danger!"

"Pidge-"

"No! You just think I can't because I'm small and a girl! Let me come, Shiro!"

"You probably should let her, Shiro. Otherwise she'll just follow us into the snow."

"Please?"

"...Fine."

 

"Lance, are you sure you can do this?"

"Yes."

"Alright. Allura, open the door!"

Allira opened the bay doors, letting the three benders fall through. She hadn't been able to land, due to the wind and snow. Lance froze slides in the air, letting the paladins slide safely to land. Lance moved the snow beneath them so they walked on solid ground.

"There!" Pidge pointed to a light coming from a cave.

"Good eye, Pidge."

Lance created a path through the snow leading to the cave, racing up it, leaving the other paladins far behind. When he got there, he could see Hunk, lying unconscious on the floor.

"Hunk!"

A man in furs appeared from a turn in the cave, bending over the unconscious earth bender. Lance's vision turned red. This man was holding his friend prisoner! He'd probably already killed Keith!

"Hey! Leave him alone!" Lance shot daggers of ice, sharper than any knife, right towards the stranger's heart.

Keith was following Pasha when he saw daggers of ice shooting towards the mountain man. He lunged out and sliced them with his sword, his expression changing to shock as he saw Lance, eyes narrowed in anger.

"Keith, get out of the way."

"Lance, no! Pasha is helping!"

Lance obviously wasn't hearing him, because he shoved Keith aside with strength Keith wouldn't've thought he possessed.

"He hurt Hunk, Keith. This is his fault."

"Stop it!" He yanked on Lance's jacket, but Lance wasn't stopping for anything.

"Leave me alone, Keith. He's going to pay."

"No-it wasn't- he didn't- it was my fault," he shouted.

Lance cocked his head at Keith.

"I did everything wrong. I should have tried harder to keep him off the ice, I shouldn't've gone into the storm. It's my fault. Not Pasha's. Blame me." He spread out his arms.

Lance seemed to consider that for a moment. The water slid back into his pouch. Keith let out a sigh of relief. For a split second, he'd thought that Lance was actually about to stab him.

Lance punched him in the face. Keith reeled backwards, jaw smarting, stars dancing in front of his eyes.

"Feel better?" he asked, rubbing his sore face.

"Yes." Lance shook his hand, whistling. "That _hurts!_ How do you _do_ that!"

Keith's attention shifted to the people coming in behind them. "Shiro! Pidge!"

"My, my," Pasha said dryly, "I see my cave is quite popular now."

 

"Thanks again." Shiro shook Pasha's hand.

"My pleasure. Except for the ice daggers."

Lance stared at the floor. "Sorry."

"You could still come with us," Keith tried.

Pasha shook his head. "No, I'm too old. You young ones go bash some heads for me, eh?"

"Yes, Sir."

"All of you, take care out there."

"You too."

Hunk was strong enough to stand up, and he waved. "Good luck with your mountain!"

 

As they walked away, Keith turned one last time to wave, and he saw a dog, howling goodbye, and a wild man shaking his spear in triumph.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. now I will maybe get back to an actual plot line.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Blade of Marmora episode, but with fire.

“Keith, Shiro, I’m sending you on mission. There are reports that Pidge intercepted of a large Fire Nation camp which has been using villagers in gladiator matches. That is unacceptable. I need you two to take them down.”

“Just the two of us?”

“I’ll have Lance on standby in case you get injured, but I need Pidge and Hunk elsewhere and if Lance gets hurt we’ll have to make another trip to the North Pole. Frankly, I’d like to avoid making a long detour up there. Understood?”

“Understood.”

 

 

“There’s not that many of them,” Keith whispered, “We should be able to take them out.”

“What do you see?”

“A bunch of soldiers.”

“No, Keith, what do you _see_.”

Keith sighed. He hated doing this. “Twenty. Most have swords, so we can assume they’re not benders. Watch out for those five.” He indicated a lone group of soldiers who seemed to have their own clique. “They’re not carrying any weapons, that plus the fact that they’re not wearing gloves tallies up to firebending.”

“What else,” Shiro prompted.

“There don’t appear to be hostages, and they all seem to be fairly lax. Shouldn’t be too hard to take them out. Why do you insist on doing this? You know that I hate it.”

“One day, Keith, I might not be around to lead the team. And if that day comes around, I want you to lead them.”

“What?! What’re you talking about?! You’re gonna be fine. Stop talking like a crazy person. We’re all going to stick together and everything will be okay.”

“Keith, sometimes you lose soldiers-”

“Now isn’t going to be one of those times. You’ll see. We’ll win this war without losing anyone along the way.”

“Keith-”

“No. This discussion is over. We’re going to take these guys out and then we’re never going to talk about this again.”

“Alright. I’ll take the firebenders, you take the non-benders.”

“I can take the-”

Shiro held up one hand. “I know you can. But honestly, I’m better at fighting long range fighters. Once you’re in close they don’t stand a chance. A bunch of sword-waving soldiers is your area of expertise. Alright. On my count. Three. Two. One!”

Shiro started with three giant rocks flying through the air at the firebenders, instantly knocking three of them out. Keith used the dust and confusion to his advantage to quickly disarm and knock out as many soldiers as he could, and then the fight dissolved into chaos. Out of the corner of his eye, Keith could see Shiro expertly dodging fireblasts as he rocked the ground underneath the firebenders, throwing off their aim.

The clang of a blade bought Keith’s attention back to his battle. He blinked. There had not been this many soldiers a few moments ago. He started to fight again, his blade a whirl of metal in his hand, an extension of his arm. He kept fighting, and fighting, but there were soldiers popping up everywhere now and he could see Shiro surrounded by a ring of firebenders, furiously attempting to both defend himself and knock them away.

“Shiro! This was a trap! We need to leave!”

Shiro nodded and launched himself over the firebenders with a well-timed rock. Keith saw an opening in the soldiers and ran for it, using someone’s face as a springboard to vault over the remaining soldier’s heads. Then he saw something that made his blood run cold. A firebender, calmly following Shiro’s movement with one hand. Keith pivoted and ran back to the fight.

“Shiro! Watch out!” Someone grabbed his arms and twisted them behind his back, kicking the back of his knees to make him go down.

Shiro had heard his warning, though, and, in midair, pulled a rock up out of the ground to block the blast of fire. His shield exploded and he was thrown to the ground, slamming into it hard and rolling a few feet. But at least he was alive. At least until one of the firebenders advanced on him, helmetless so Keith could see his smirk.

“You’re a nobody. And you’re going to die a nobody.”

“NO!” Keith screamed, wishing he could do something, not expecting anything to happen. He certainly wasn’t expecting a jet of fire to shoot out of his mouth as if he were a dragon, flying through the air towards the firebender.

The firebender jerked back in surprise, barely dodging the blast. “A firebender? A traitor, no doubt.”

“I’m no traitor,” Keith snarled, “I’ve never been a part of the Fire Nation. If you cared about whether or not I was a traitor, you shouldn’t’ve killed my family!”

“Sir, if he’s a firebender, then doesn’t he have the right to-”

“I am well aware of his rights,” the firebender snapped, “But he isn’t, so thank you for that.”

“Rights?”

“Shut up!”

“A firebender can stand for a prisoner. He’ll fight whatever the jailor sends at him, and if he wins, the prisoner goes free.”

“ _Shut up_ you _idiot_!”

“I want to stand for this prisoner. I call on my rights as a firebender.”

“Keith, no!”

“Shut up, you. He has rights. You’re vermin in the eyes of the law. You don’t get to talk.” He turned to Keith. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

Keith nodded. “I am. Shiro, don’t stop me. I can do this.”

The firebender sighed. “Alright. Get the arena ready. This treacherous scum is going to give us a show.”

 

 

Keith stared nervously at his opponents. There were an awful lot of them, and they hadn’t let him use his sword. Fire only apparently. But he was sure he could still use his normal fighting style, just with fire, right?

Wrong. Fire was hot and uncontrollable and chaotic. And had he mentioned hard to control? Five minutes later, practically everything _except_ his enemies were on fire, and he still had no idea what he was doing. Oh well. If he couldn’t actually use his fire, he’d just have to punch them.

“What is he _doing_? He’s not even firebending!”

“That’s because he just found out how to firebend. He didn’t know he could.”

“Why would you do that to him? Why would you keep this knowledge from him?”

“I was protecting him!”

The firebender shook his head. “Who are you to say what’s safe for him?”

Shiro could feel his hairs raising in anger. “We were living in the Earth Kingdom! Do you know what they would’ve done to him if they’d found out?!”

“If you were so concerned for his safety, why did you bring him to the Earth Kingdom? Seems to me like you are trying to decide what’s best for him without asking his opinion first.”

“I wasn’t going to leave him with people like _you_.”

The firebender leaned in towards him. “We both know who he really is, don’t we? I don’t know how you got your hands on him, but I do know that’s he’s very valuable to the right people. There’s a possibility that he might win this. In fact, I’d even go so far as to say that he probably will, in which case I’ll have to let you go. No doubt he’ll go with you. But I have a business proposition for you. I’ll take him off of your hands for a reasonable price.”

Shiro pushed himself away, face twisted in an expression of absolute disgust and horror. “You think I would _sell_ Keith?”

“Of course. Isn’t that why you took him in the first place?”

“No! I took him because I saw that people like you were going to do awful things with him and I wasn’t going to sit by to watch that!”

“Oh, my. You haven’t told him everything about himself have you? He actually has no idea where you found him.”

“And he doesn’t need to know. It won’t help him.”

“I’m sure you thought the same about his firebending.”

 

 

Keith panted as he punched someone else in the face, feeling the satisfying crunch of his nose breaking even as he added another layer of bruises to his knuckles. He wasn’t going to be able to keep this up forever. He was going to end up breaking a finger, or his whole hand if he wasn’t careful. He dodged a swordstrike and fluidly grabbed the man’s arm, yanking him forward to keep his arm straight and slamming his fist into the swordsman’s elbow, effectively breaking his arm. He pulled the sword out of the man’s dead hand and felt for its balance and weight. Now he could really fight.

But he’d knocked everybody out.

“Huh. Hey! Is that all you’ve got!”

Keith could see Shiro waving at him from inside the viewing box. He waved back but Shiro shook his head, pointing over Keith’s shoulder and shouting soundlessly. Keith turned around, a blade narrowly missing his heart and instead grazing his shoulder. Round two had arrived. And these were actually trained fighters, not soldiers whose tactics were to outnumber their enemy.

He dodged another sword swipe but failed to see the kick flying at his face until it had connected and he was sent flying across the arena. He skidded to a halt in the ground, wincing as he tried to get up.

“Do you surrender?”

Keith pulled his bruised body off of the ground. “I’m never going to give up.”

The swordsman shrugged and readied his blade. Keith let out a long breath. He could do this.

 

 

“Why are you letting this happen? He’s only eighteen!”

“He should’ve known better than to challenge what he cannot tackle, then.”

“You have to stop this!”

“No. He’s beaten my swordsman, somehow, so I’m going to move on to the final phase. I didn’t think he’d make it this far, but now he’ll have no choice but to use his firebending. I’m sending out the firebenders.”

“What? You can’t do that!”

“Why yes, I can. My rights. He did challenge me.” The firebender chuckled. “I’m surprised he didn’t challenge me to an Agni-Kai.”

 

 

Keith ducked a blast of fire, singeing the end of his hair. He took in one more breath. He couldn’t evade forever. His shoulder was starting to hurt in earnest, as well as the other bruises he’d received. There was no way he was going to be able to get up close; he was going to have to firebend.

He saw his opponent prepare a long comet of fire and he took a fighting stance. Keith took in a deep breath and exhaled. He’d seen the waterbenders in the North Pole catch long tails of water, spin and throw it back at their attacker. He was sure the same technique would work with fire. As long as the other firebender stayed exactly where he was, Keith wouldn’t even have to be too accurate when he reversed the fire.

 

 

“He can’t do that! That’s an advanced move!”

The commander leaned back in his chair. “If he thinks he can, he can try. If he succeeds, he’ll win the fight and the two of you will be free to go. If he doesn’t, well, the fight will continue.”

“No. I’m not going to watch this anymore.” Shiro heated his arm up. “I stayed out of this because Keith asked me to, but I’m not going to watch this anymore.”

The ghost of a smile slickered across the commander’s face. “You’re too late.” He pointed out the window where the fire was leaving the bender’s hands. “His moment of truth is here.”

 

 

Keith saw the fire. He saw the brilliant flames streaking towards him like a comet. He put his hands out and turned. Easy in and out.

He was wrong. When the waterbenders had performed this, the water they had touched became a part of them, an extension of their being. Fire was nothing like that. The instant Keith touched it, he felt it. A burning feeling. Fire wasn’t as gentle as the water. Fire wanted to burn, to consume, to destroy everything in its path. Including him. He felt the hot sensation on his hands as he dipped his hands into the flames, the uncomfortable heat turning into pain turning into agony as he spun it back at his opponents with a shout of rage and pain.

He collapsed to his knees, clutching his injured hands to his chest. He could see the red marks, the shriveling burns that matched the scar on his arm, that matched the marks on the refugees, on the soldiers who returned from the war wounded. As if from far away, he could see the remaining firebender advancing on him, but was distracted by the sound of shattering glass as Shiro crashed through the window of the viewing box and punched the firebender over, knocking him away from Keith.

“This fight is over! We’re leaving, and don’t any of you try to stop us!” he turned to Keith. “Can you stand?”

Keith made an attempt to push himself up and felt Shiro’s strong arm supporting him, slinging one arm over his broad shoulders. Brothers.

 

 

“So. Firebending.”

Keith looked away as Lance held a glowing hand over Keith’s burned ones. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“So every time someone would say something about you being Fire Nation-”

“They were right, I know. I said I didn’t want to talk about it. You don’t know how lucky you are to have the element you do.”

“Well, I certainly wouldn’t trade mine, but fire is pretty cool.”

Keith yanked his hands away. “No, it’s not! It’s not cool, it’s not a good element, fire just wants to destroy everything.” He punched the wall and yelped at the pain from the burns.

“Settle down, man. I’m _trying_ to help you.”

“Exactly! Your element is a helping element! I feel like… like there’s some kind of burning fire inside of me that wants to destroy everything and if I lose control, I will.”

Lance put down his hands for a moment. “I kind of feel like that too, sometimes. Like there’s all this energy that wants to bust out and destroy everything. Water’s not as gentle an element as you think. Tsunamis, floods, snowstorms, riptides, rapids, all that is part of water too. Each element has a light side and a dark side.”

“Fire doesn’t,” Keith said bitterly, “It’s all darkness.”

Lance shrugged. “If you say so. Personally, I like my food cooked. And I like to see where I’m going at night, and, well, as much as I like snow, I don’t want to be cold all of the time. Fire’s not all bad.” He moved the water over his hands again, putting the glowing relief back on Keith’s hands. “Just like firebenders aren't all bad.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is having trouble firebending and Lance thinks he knows why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, look, I deviated from the plot again, what a surprise :)

“Come on.”

Keith looked up from his bed. “What?”

Shiro grinned. “We’re going to do some bending.”

 

 

“Come on, Keith! Bend at me!”

“Why? I’m doing a perfectly fine job avoiding your attacks.”

Shiro rolled his eyes. “I know, but I want to teach you how to bend. I know you’re perfectly capable of _avoiding_ bending attacks, now you need to use your own bending.”

Keith threw a weak blast of fire, which Shiro easily dodged.

“That was barely even hot.”

“Well, last time I did some firebending, I set everything around me on fire!”

“Come on, Keith. Just try a little.”

“I don’t know how! I don’t know how to firebend! I don’t know what I did last time!”

Shiro was silent for a moment. “I guess I’ll just have to teach you, then.”

“What? You’re an earthbender!”

“Don’t be racist, Keith. I mean, it’s all bending, right?”

“Earth and fire are _very_ different, Shiro!”

“I don’t know. They seem fairly compatible. Alright, then!” Shiro trotted over and positioned Keith’s arms and legs. “Bending position. Feel one with the fire, Keith.”

“Shiro, this is an earthbending stance.”

“Sh. What is it exactly that firebenders do? Draw power from the sun? Alrighty then. Feel the power of the sun, Keith. Be one with the sun and absorb its energy.”

Keith closed his eyes, took in a deep breath and exhaled. “One with the sun. Shiro, it’s working!”

“Really?!”

Keith opened his eyes, frowning. “No. You’re a terrible teacher.”

“Ouch. Maybe the others will do better.”

 

 

“Alright! Um, wait, why did you choose me? I have absolutely no idea how to teach firebending.”

“It’s okay, Hunk. Just try.”

“Um, alright. Just… think really hard about fire shooting out of your fingers? Concentrate. Do some yoga. Go find a group of firebenders and watch how they do it? No, that’s a bad idea, don’t do that.”

“Thanks for trying, Hunk.”

 

 

A massive monster made of vines popped out of the ground right in front of Keith. “Ah!”

The head popped off of the monster revealing Pidge sitting inside. “Settle down, dummy. It’s just me. Shiro called me next.”

“What’s your advice, then?”

“Oh, I’m not giving advice. Get ready!”

Keith frowned. “Get ready for- hey watch it!” He rolled to the side as the mass of vines that covered Pidge’s arms slammed down onto the space where he’d just been. “What are you _doing_?!”

“You were in danger last time you did some firebending. Maybe you just need to be in danger. So I’m going to try to kill you.”

“Pidge!”

 

 

“Ouch! Watch it, water-hands!”

“I can’t believe she broke your ribs.”

“I didn’t have my sword, and punching a bunch of vines doesn’t do much for you.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “I _believe_ that the _whole point_ was for you to firebend.”

“Well, it wasn’t working.”

Lance shrugged. “Maybe you have to _actually_ be in danger. Pidge wasn’t going to actually hurt you.”

“I have broken ribs.”

“Hurt you permanently. Maybe someone _else_ has to be in danger. I mean, they were going to kill Shiro, right? Maybe a friend or family member has to be in danger.”

“Don’t tell Pidge that one, or she’ll probably throw Shiro off of the airship and tell me to use firebending to save him.”

“Probably. Well, you better figure it out. Preferably _before_ you’re tasked with watching my back.”

“I have a sword.”

“I’m just saying.”

 

 

“Shiro! Why did you assign a _waterbender_ to teach me _firebending_! They’re complete _opposites_!”

“Oh, I don’t know. Fire and water are more similar than you think. Just give it a try.”

Keith faced Lance, grumbling. “Alright. Let’s determine that you also can’t teach me how to bend and get this over with.”

“Alright, into the water.”

“What?”

Lance looked at Keith exasperatedly. “Get in the water.”

“That’s not going to help me firebend.”

“Get. In. The. Water.”

Keith obliged, still skeptical, and Lance nodded.

“Alright. Float on your back.”

“Is this some kind of prank?”

“Keith, do you want to learn how to bend or not?”

“Not particularly,” Keith muttered, but he laid down, floating on his back. The water started to glow as Lance moved his arms in a circle.”

“What are you doing?”

“Sh. I’m concentrating.” The glowing faded as Lance put his arms down. “You are really weird.”

Keith rolled his eyes as he splashed out of the river. “Oh, wow, thanks.”

“Hey, no, that’s not what I mean. By all rights and respects, your body is perfectly capable of firebending. Nothing’s blocked, everything is functional. So it just doesn’t make sense that you can’t firebend. Unless it’s mental.”

“ _You’re_ mental.”

“No, this is actually legitimate. I am, for once, being serious. The only reason you can’t firebend is because of your mind. There’s some kind of mental block.”

“Great, we figured out what’s wrong with me. How do we fix it?”

Lance shrugged. “That’s up to you. It’s _your_ mental block.”

“There’s nothing I can think of, except that I’ve been told that firebending is evil for my whole life. But other than that… I can’t think of anything. What could possibly be mentally blocking me?”

Lance shrugged. “Plenty of things. Worry you’re going to hurt someone?”

“No.”

“You burned your hands last time. Could that be stopping you?”

“I doubt it. They healed up nicely, and it’s not like getting sliced by a sword ever stopped me from swordfighting.”

“Yeah, you’re welcome for the hands. The only other thing I can think of is maybe… suppressed memories. Maybe something happened that you were so traumatized by that your mind pushed it into a corner and forgot about it. But a mental block against firebending remained.”

“Then how come I did it last week?”

Lance shrugged again. “Could be the amount of stress you were under. An overflow of emotions expressed itself with fire. I hear sometimes when firebenders are babies and throw tantrums they sometimes light things on fire. You’re not a toddler, but the excess emotions were too much. I don’t know. But that’s not the real question. The real question is how do we figure out what you’re blocking?”

“I- I don’t know. If something was traumatizing enough that it blocked my bending… do you really think we should go digging for it?”

“I think that it’s your choice. If you want to keep it forgotten, that’s up to you. But if it were me, I’d want to figure it out. Just a thought.” He thumped Keith’s shoulder. “It doesn’t look like I’m going to be able to teach you anything, so I’m done. Tell me if you want to figure it out. I’ve got some ideas.”

 

 

Keith stayed sitting by the river, throwing rocks into the water and watching the ripples. Did he really want this? Did he really want to learn the kind of bending that had taken the lives of so many? Did he really want to know where he came from? Should he ask Shiro? Surely Shiro would know; he was the one who had raised him. Keith had always felt like he could trust Shiro, but one thing was stopping him. There was no way Shiro hadn’t known he was a firebender. Even if he _was_ suppressing his firebending, surely he’d lost control before and used his bending when he was younger. But Shiro hadn’t ever told him. So could he _really_ trust that Shiro would give him a honest answer?

A sudden crack of a branch nearby snapped Keith back to reality. He reached for his sword, only to remember with a curse that he’d taken it off to practice his firebending. He looked at the river. Could he hide in it, maybe swim back to the others? No, it would be too loud. He’d alert the intruders to his presence.

He told himself to calm down. There was no reason to suspect that it was anything but a lost farmer, or a nearby native. Nothing at all. But still, some instinct wouldn’t let him just ignore it. As the footsteps grew closer, he scrambled up a tree. Better safe than sorry.

He was glad of his paranoia when four Fire Nation soldiers came stomping through to stop where he’d been. They were all big with swords strapped to their belts. And they knew how to use them, based on the way their hands were all hovering near the hilt and the way they stood, practically daring anyone to try their luck and see how soon they needed their face put back together by a waterbender. Maybe if he’d had his sword he could’ve taken them. But not without a weapon, not with his bare hands.

 _And your firebending,_ a little voice in the back of his mind whispered, but he ignored it. He couldn’t stake his life on his firebending; even if he could do it, he wasn’t very good. He could always wait for them to leave. Unless they set up camp, they would have to leave eventually.

“What are we even _doing_ here? Our talents are wasted in the wilderness.”

“General Zarkon said that the rebel members with the lions are here. And he knows.”

The leader knelt down by the river, and Keith mentally berated himself for not removing his footprints from the ground. The soldier’s eyes followed a trail that only he could see and his eyes traveled up the tree Keith was hiding in. Keith sucked in a deep breath and stayed absolutely still, hoping the foliage would hide him.

The soldier looked away, and Keith let out a deep sigh of relief. “Two of them were definitely here. Waterbenders don’t normally travel this far inland. I’d say one of them was probably injured. It looks like they went into the water, but the waterbender stayed onshore, which only makes sense if he was healing someone.” The soldier looked directly at the spot where Keith was hiding. “Isn’t that right, little spy.”

Keith quickly stepped to another a branch, trying to get away from his piercing gaze. If he could just sneak away…

“Don’t hide, friend! Come down and say hello!” With a whirring sound, Keith saw the man’s blade hurtling towards him. With a _thunk_ it sliced through the branch Keith was standing on and he plummeted towards the ground, smacking into what seemed like every branch on the tree, but unable to grab any of them. He landed with loud _thump_ on the ground.

“Now, what would we have here? A little villager who lost his way? Or a resistance member?”

Keith shook his head to clear it from the fall and stood up. “Just passing through, no need for things to get hairy, I’ll just squeeze past-”

The man put one arm out to block Keith’s passage. “Now, what would you have been doing in that tree, then?”

“Oh, well, there’s, ah, platypus-bears in the region, so when I heard loud noises, I decided better safe than sorry and-”

“Platypus-bears can rip up trees like that in the time it takes you to sneeze. And don’t give me ‘hiding from a platypus-bear’ nonsense because a platypus bear could smell firebender children like you from a mile away.”

“As a firebender, you don’t have a right to stop me. I’m a citizen of the Fire nation, just like-”

“Don’t try that with us. We’re not stupid. We know who you are. Resistance scum.”

“Stay back or I’ll use my firebending on you!”

“If I heard correctly, you just learned to firebend, and you can’t do it very well. You’re not threatening.” He picked up his sword. “You’re nobody.” He took a slash at Keith, but he avoided it, wincing as the movement brought to life the bruises and broken ribs from his fall.

“You can’t even carry out your threats!” This one caught him on the leg, cutting a gash down his calf.

“You’re _worthless_ without firebending!” Keith reeled back as the sword caught his face, breaking the skin on his cheek.

“Go on! Firebend if you’re so tough!”

Keith tried. He tried to summon the fire within, but was met with nothing. He couldn’t do it.

“That’s what I thought. You’re pathetic and worthless.” He took one last slash at Keith, and time seemed to slow down as Keith ran _towards_ the sword before sliding on his knees under the sword and taking out the man’s legs before sprinting as fast as he could into the ice-cold river, letting the current carry him away.

 

 

Keith rushed onto the control deck, dripping water and a small amount of blood, panting. “Coran! Allura! Get the airship up and moving, they know where we are!”

Coran immediately began pulling levers and firing up the engines while Allura stared coldly at wet, shivering Keith for a moment before frostily saying

“You look terrible. Go find Lance.”

With that she coolly turned around and joined Coran at the controls.

 

 

 

Lance sighed and pointed to a tub of water as Keith tentatively knocked on the door. “Alright, get in the water Mr. Hot-head. You know, you should be really grateful that I learned how to do this, or you would be in a heck of trouble. What were you doing this time, and why are we taking off?”

“Fire Nation soldiers found us.”

“Found _you_ , you mean.”

“No, I just got in their way. They already knew where we were.”

Lance groaned and let the water go. “I would like to be able to land somewhere and actually _stay_ for more than a day for once. Why do we seem to attract so much trouble?”

“We’re traveling around in a stolen Fire Nation airship and are freeing whatever villages we come across. Of _course_ we’re going to attract trouble.”

Lance sighed. “I was being rhetorical, moron.”

Keith didn’t snap back. He was too busy thinking about what the soldier had said.

_You’re nobody._

_You’re_ worthless _without firebending._

 _You’re pathetic and worthless_.

Keith closed his eyes for a moment to think. _Nobody. Worthless. Pathetic._ His eyes shot open and he gripped Lance’s wrist. “I need to learn how to bend. I need my memories back.”

 

 

“What’re you doing?”

“Be quiet and sit still.” Lance pulled the water over his hands and spun it, the water glowing in the semi-darkness. He put his hands to Keith’s temples. “Relax. Let the water heal you.”

Keith took in one long breath and released it. But when he opened his eyes, he wasn’t in the airship anymore. He was shackled to a floor, a dark figure, shrouded in shadow, standing over him.

“You’re _mine_ ,” he hissed.

\---------------------

Keith jerked away from Lance with a gasp. He was sweating and panting as if he’d been fighting. Lance lowered his hands.

“Do you want to stop? Because if this is hurting you-”

Keith shook his head and leaned back into his chair. “No, no, keep going. I need to do this.”

Lance shrugged and put his hands up again.

\-----------------

“You have no one. Your father is dead, and your mother left you. No one cares about you, just like everybody else here. You are the property of your nation. You will serve us or die.”

He was small, not a baby, but no older than six. He still couldn’t see the figure, though.

“You are only worth anything because you can firebend and you’re young; we can easily bend you to our will, as easily as you bend fire. Now, then, show us what you can do.”

“I don’t want to. You’re mean. Where’s my house? Where did you take me? I don’t like it here. There’s too much metal and rock.”

The figure’s foot shot out and caught him in the ribs, the chains keeping him from toppling over. “Shut up, you! You _belong_ to us! You _will_ do what we say!”

\-------------

Lance frowned as Keith winced. He wished he could tell what was going on in Keith’s head. He started to take his hands off, but Keith grabbed his arm, eyes still closed.

“Keep going.”

\-------------

He was in a big room with lots of children, their ages varying from his own to eighteen. A girl his age bounced up to him. “Hi! My name is Lee! What’s yours?”

Keith looked up from the floor suspiciously. He’d already had a couple of bad experiences with people who had offered friendship and had stolen his food.

She stuck out a hand. “I promise I won’t hurt you. People here are _really_ mean, but I hate hurting people. That makes me a ‘problem.’ So, what’s your name?”

“K-Keith.”

“Don’t worry, Keith. We’re going to leave eventually. They have to let us go to join the army. But,” she leaned in conspiratorially, “I’m not going to stay in the army. I’m going to desert. You want to come with me? We can go to the Earth Kingdom, or, ooo, we can go live in the Air Temples! Won’t that be fun?”

“Um, I guess so.”

She smiled brilliantly at him. “Okay! So we both have to survive this place to do that, deal?”

Keith tentatively smiled back. “Deal.”

The memories sped up, flashing through images too fast for Keith to comprehend, Shiro, fighting, swords, fire, pain, and suddenly an overwhelming horror and terror and loneliness that caused Keith to snap out of his memories.

“Uh, Keith? You want to keep going or-”

Keith jerked away from his teammate. “No! Don’t touch me!” He lurched out of the chair, knocking it over in his rush for the door. “I can’t… I’m going back to my room.”

Lance chewed his lip thoughtfully. What had brought that on? He’d been doing fairly well. Why the sudden horror?

Shiro stuck his head in the door. “Is everything okay? I saw Keith tearing down the hallway like a platypus bear was after him.”

“Yeah, everything’s fine, it’s just that Keith has some suppressed memories that we were trying to unlock because hopefully that’ll unlock his firebending too, but he suddenly went nuts and bananas on me.”

Shiro’s face tightened. “Suppressed memories? You can unlock those?”

“Maybe, if he’ll stay still long enough.”

Shiro seized Lance’s hands. “Lance, you can’t do that.”

“What? Sure we can.”

“No, you _can’t._ You two don’t understand what you’re messing with. Don’t touch that. Leave it buried. Everybody will be happier that way.”

“What, so we just leave Keith unable to firebend?”

“If that’s what it takes, then yes. You _have_ to listen to me. What happened needs to stay gone. Don’t poke at it. Don’t try to figure it out or unlock it. Leave it buried. Promise me, Lance. Promise me you’ll leave it alone. Promise me you’ll stop Keith from going any further on that road.”

Lance stared Shiro in the face, confused by the desperation in his leader’s eyes. “Alright, but I don’t see why-”

Shiro visibly relaxed. “Thanks, Lance. Just remember you promise, no matter what Keith says. No matter what.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith gets more memories. Lance almost kills him.

 

“Hey. I’m ready to try again.”

Lance looked up from his waterbending exercise when Keith approached him. “Try what again?”

“Uh, the whole memory recovery thing? I kinda need your waterbending to do it.”

Lance heaved a sigh. “Oh. Yeah. Listen, man, I don’t know. I don’t think we should keep going with this.”

“What? This is my _past_ we’re talking about! This is my _bending_! Why _wouldn’t_ we keep going?!”

Lance squinted off into the distance, trying very hard not to look Keith in the eye. “I don’t… Um, well, there might be psychological issues we didn’t think about. I mean, if it traumatized you so badly you forgot about it, maybe we shouldn’t poke it. It might wake up something else. We should just forget the whole thing.”

“Shiro put you up to this, didn’t he.”

Lance laughed nervously. “What? Shiro? Nah, what’re you talking about? That’s- that’s crazy. I just thought-”

“Lance, I’m not stupid! I _saw_ him go into your room after I left! He told you not to let me do this anymore. I’m right, aren’t I?!”

“Keith, I just-”

“I don’t know what’s going on anymore. Shiro was the one person I could trust, and now I find out he was- well, wherever I was, but he never told me anything, he’s been lying to me. And now you’re helping him. I know he’s probably trying to protect me, and that’s why he told you not to help, but I’m not a little kid anymore! I can handle my past!”

“I know, but-”

“Then help me. Come _on,_ Lance.”

“If Shiro catches me, I’m dead meat.”

“I know. _Please._ ”

Lance sighed. “There’s one thing I could try. It might work, but then again, it could potentially fry your brain or maybe drown you.”

“I’m willing to risk it.”

“Alright. Well, I think if I do one massive healing flash, you should slowly recover the memories on your own, so we could blame it on the first healing session, but there might be unwanted side effects like nightmares, and/or sickness. And, well, to do this you’re going to have to trust-fall for me. I’m going to do something that isn’t going to feel natural, but you have to let it happen, alright?”

“What’re you going to do?”

“If I tell you, you’ll tense up. Just relax and trust me.”

Lance surrounded his hands with water and they started to glow. He took in a deep breath and carefully controlled the water off of his hands and made a cocoon water around Keith’s head, still glowing. The water shrank in closer and closer until the water was flowing all over Keith’s face.

“Just relax,” Lance reminded him, “Trust me.”

The water seemed to seep into his skin, his pores absorbing it and letting the healing water sink into his head. He shuddered, fell out of the chair and stopped moving.

Lance put his hands down. “Keith? Keith, you okay?” when the firebender didn’t respond a shot of panic pumped through him. What had happened? Had he… no. He couldn’t’ve. “Shiro! Hunk! Pidge! Help!”

 

 

Shiro heard Lance’s call and his head shot up. Lance was in danger. Then a second thought occurred to him. Keith had been headed in that direction. What if… but what could have possibly happened that Lance couldn’t heal? Unless Lance had broken his promise. Unless… He pushed the thoughts away. He needed to help his teammate.

 

 

Shiro ran through the hallways until he stopped at Lance’s room where Lance was kneeling next to an unconscious Keith, chewing on his lip as his glowing hands passed over the firebender’s unmoving body. He looked up as Shiro entered horror and fear in his eyes.

“Lance, what happened?”

Lance gulped. “I think… I think I killed him.”

Shiro dropped down next to Keith’s body and reached for his wrist. Nothing. Either Keith’s pulse was just incredibly faint, or… No. Shiro refused to think of that. Keith was okay. He _had_ to be. Shiro pulled Keith’s knife out of its sheath and held it near his mouth. He let out a sigh of relief when its shiny surface fogged up. Keith was breathing. He was alive. But what was wrong with him?

“Lance-”

“Oh, no! No, no, no! I killed him, didn’t I?” Lance’s lower lip started to shake and he started to hyperventilate. “I killed him. I killed Keith. I-”

“Lance, stop, he’s alive. I just need to know what happened.”

“Well…”

“Lance, whatever it was, I promise I won’t get angry.”

Lance’s mind immediately started reaching for a plausible lie. There was no way he could tell Shiro what had happened. He would _flip_. This might not have been what he’d been scared of happening, but it was still a result of trying to regain Keith’s memories.

“Um, well, Keith’s ribs were bothering him because of, you know, Pidge breaking them, and we were trying to figure out a better healing method. So I kind of floated the water and put it into his skin and then he fell over and stopped moving.”

Shiro frowned. “Huh. That’s odd. Do you think- nah, that’s not possible.” He scooped Keith up. “I think right now he just needs rest, but we’re going to have to check on him every so often, just in case.” He put one hand on Lance’s shoulder. “It’s not your fault Lance. You were just trying to help out a teammate.”

He looked down worriedly at Keith’s face. He had said what Lance had wanted to hear, but Shiro just wished he could convince himself.

\-----------------

“Firebenders ready! Flames hot! Fight!”

Keith sized up his opponent. He was only eight, but he already had the mind of a war-hardened general. He could find a weakness and exploit it both physically and emotionally. This particular opponent had a slight limp and favored his left arm, from the looks of it because of a burn. Keith fluidly ducked under his weak fire blast and aimed one of his own at his opponent’s left arm, catching him off guard and then following up with a roundhouse kick that knocked his opponent out cold. While most firebenders preferred to only use their firebending, Keith used both firebending and normal, non-bending techniques. It was what made him a good fighter.

He turned to face his next opponent. Lee. She grinned and winked. He gave a slight smile in return. The two of them had figured out how to make their fights look realistic enough to fool the master, but not actually hurt each other. He threw and impressive-looking blast of fire that had no actual heat and was easily dispelled with a swirl of her staff (unlike most other fighters, Lee preferred non-lethal weapons). In retaliation, she ran towards him under the cover of smoke and brought down a heavy blow that was twitched to the side masterfully enough to make it look like Keith had dodged it.

“Whose turn is it to win,” he whispered, “I forgot.”

“Mine,” she whispered back, “Definitely mine.”

“Are you sure? I thought you won last time.”

“No, it was definitely you last time.”

“Alright. If you say so.” He drove his fist towards her face, twitching his finger so that the firebending blast went right next to her face instead of across it, but it was close enough that no one knew the difference, based on the “ooo”s of the watching pupils.

Lee gave him a crooked grin. “Lights out, pal. See you when you wake up.”

She brought her staff right up to Keith’s jaw and he sank into blackness.

 

She hadn’t actually smacked him. Everybody had been so distracted by the staff to his jaw that no one had seen her do a nerve pinch that knocked him out without hurting him. She’d stopped the staff right before it hit him. They’d been continuously doing that to each other, taking turns “winning” without any of the pain.

“I thought you were going to lose control and actually hit me.”

Lee gasped in mock indignation. “ _Me_ have such little control? You insult me! I demand satisfaction!”

“You want an Agni-Kai,” he growled playfully, “We can go right now.”

She smacked his arm. “Oh, hush.”

“Everybody, we have created a new training exercise.”

There was a collective groan from all of the children.

“Shut up you ungrateful rats or I’ll punish you all! We have recently caught a young earthbender, and you are going to fight him to give you a taste of what you’ll be fighting in the real world.”

He snapped his fingers and the doors were opened, a sixteen-year-old boy with dark hair and insane spikey bangs shoved in.

“Whoa. You kidnap _children_? That’s _sick_. What is _wrong_ with you people?”

Keith winced for him, anticipating the smack to his head that inevitably came.

“You do not speak to your master that way!”

“So, wait. You want me to _fight_ a bunch of _kids_?”

“Why, yes. These “kids” are better trained than you probably are.”

The boy shrugged. “Probably. I’m a farmer. Trying to work my way to Ba-Sing-Sae. I’m not a fighter, but still. Hello everybody. My name is Takeshi Shirogane, but you can call me Shiro.”

“You don’t have a name! You are our property, and you will start with… you.” The master seized Keith’s former opponent. “You will fight first.”

The boy looked absolutely terrified and stared at Shiro in fear.

He winked. “It’s okay.”

Shiro sent a few rocks the boy’s way, but they were moving slowly, and he easily avoided. The boy smiled tentatively at Shiro and sent a half-hearted blast of fire at him.

“Fight like you mean it! Don’t just pretend! No mercy for your opponent!”

Shiro raised one eyebrow and sent a spur of rock jutting out of the ground that missed his opponent, swerving to the side at last minute and going on to hit… the master.

There were instantly about ten firebenders on him at once, all of them shoving him down to the ground while twisting his arms behind his back. Keith could’ve told them the absolute idiocy of that plan _before_ Shiro simply tilted his head up, the ground beneath the firebenders’ feet jutting up and knocking them over. Unfortunately, it wasn’t too long before one of them clapped metal boots on his feet and manacles on his hands, blindfolding him so that he couldn’t see the earth.

The master examined him coldly. “So, you think you can escape?”

Shiro’s head tilted as if he were trying to get a fix on the master’s voice.

“You can’t. You pretend you’re a kind, compassionate person who would never hurt a child, but what would happen if that child actually had the potential to beat you? And I’m promising you the one thing you want if you can actually kill your opponent;” he leaned in close. “freedom. Come, rats. We’re going to the observatory room to watch.”

The observatory room was a room made of glass, built into the ceiling so that you could look down on the battles. The children were _never_ let inside, and all of them streamed towards the door, eager to go up for the first time.

The master put out one hand to stop Keith. “Not you.” He said nothing else as all of the firebenders except one followed him out.

The remaining firebender unlocked Shiro’s boots and manacles before running for the metal door and slamming it behind him, leaving only Keith and Shiro, who removed his blindfold.

“Hey. It’ll be okay.” Shiro smiled encouragingly. “I don’t want to hurt you, and I have a feeling you don’t really want to hurt me either.”

“I don’t want to hurt anyone. Why can’t you leave? The room is made of rock.”

Shiro shook his head. “The rock is only a thin layer covering metal. I’m as trapped as you are. You want to throw this fight?”

“Keith.” The master’s voice echoed from the speaker system. “If you can beat the earthbender, by which I mean _truly_ beat him, not the fake fights you do with Lee, I’ll let you leave.”

Keith didn’t respond. He couldn’t leave Lee.

“And, if you can kill him… I’ll let Lee leave with you.”

Keith’s head snapped up, and Shiro actually looked worried. “Hey, don’t do anything rash. I have a plan, and I’m going to get as many of you out as I can. Killing me will not feel good in the long, run, I promise.”

Keith shot towards him, hands blazing with fire, and Shiro threw himself to the side.

“Whoa! Hey, I know you want to help your friend, but-”

Keith ignored him and threw a powerful firebending blast at him that nearly scorched him but was avoided with a well-timed wall that protected him.

“Look, kid, just-”

Shiro rolled to the side as Keith shot another blast of fire at him and then put one hand on the ground. Immediately, a pyramid of stone rose out of the ground, pinning Keith’s arms and legs and anchoring him in place.

Shiro approached him. “Hey, I know you only want to help your friend, but if you kill me, you’ll live to regret it; killing someone isn’t something you just walk away from. You never really-”

Keith breathed a long plume of fire at him. Shiro jerked away, but the flames still caught him across the nose. It was only the very edge of the flames, only hot enough to give him a minor burn. He probably would only have a very small, bruise-like scar from that.

Keith continued to breath fire, struggling against his bonds and trying to get Shiro, who backed up and stood a good distance away, watching him with a heartbroken expression on his face.

“You can’t reach me. Stop before you hurt yourself. Please, stop.”

Keith was working his arm out, he almost had it. The pyramid wasn’t as tight as Shiro thought; Keith’s arms were incredibly thin and he had almost worked one out of the pyramid using his fire-breathing as a distraction.

“Please, I want to let you go, but I need you to calm down and stop trying to-”

Shiro ducked away as Keith shot an incredibly hot blast from his free arm, losing his control on the earth pyramid. Keith threw punch after punch, not giving Shiro a chance to recover. He shot flames out of his feet, propelling him above the ground so that Shiro couldn’t trap him again and continued throwing bolts of fire.

Shiro pulled a rock shield up and hid from Keith’s onslaught. Keith continued his blast, but suddenly, out of the blue, a large stone came out of seemingly nowhere, slamming him to the ground. Shiro was fighting back.

Keith was on his feet almost instantly, repeatedly shooting his fire. He had to win. He _had_ to. For Lee’s sake. The master had figured out that they were throwing their fights, and it was only a matter of time before he punished them for it. He _had_ to get Lee out before that happened.

Shiro continued to hide behind his earth shield but then it suddenly shot itself at Keith, and a spur of rock jutted towards him on his other side. He flew up to avoid it, but was hit by a boulder. Shiro had cleverly checkmated him so that there was nowhere for him to turn.

He was hit by another boulder, and another and another. Shiro didn’t trust Keith not to kill him. He was going to kill Keith first and at least gain his freedom. Keith inwardly shook his head. Everybody was the same. He got slammed with one more boulder, and he tumbled out of the sky, skidding against the ground. He struggled to get back to his feet.

Shiro was panting, expression depressed. “Please, stay down! You’re doing exactly what he wants! Even if I try not to hurt you, _you’re_ going to kill yourself!”

“No,” Keith panted, “I have to. Lee’s depending on me. I can’t stop.”

He poured all of his energy and strength into one, massive firebending blast that filled the whole room so that Shiro couldn’t dodge it, but he pulled up a shield and threw one last rock at Keith, smacking him right in the ribs and sending him crashing into the wall. Shiro came out from his shield and threw a sharp stone, right at Keith, who closed his eyes, anticipating the final blow.

It never came. Keith opened his eyes to see the stone hovering about an inch from his head, Shiro staring at it with a horrified expression, as if he couldn’t believe that he’d even instinctually attempted to kill the person who was trying to kill him. But the stone didn’t drop. Keith stared him in the face, daring him to do it, to prove himself wrong and kill Keith.

The stone dropped to the ground.

“No. I’m not going to kill you. I’m not going to be made into some arena show who kills for other people’s amusement.”

The master laughed. “You show mercy? Rat, he is weak! You have an advantage in that he will not kill you! Strike him down!”

Keith pushed himself up the wall, each breath an effort. Everything was spinning, and his vision was flickering in and out. But he couldn’t quit. He’d never lost, and he wasn’t going to start now. He couldn’t afford it.

Keith stumbled and pitched forward, but was caught by Shiro.

“Whoa, hey there!” The earthbender’s voice was fading in and out of focus. “You can’t-”

Keith didn’t hear the rest because he was unconscious.

\---------------

Keith sat up straight in bed, panting as if he’d been in a fight. Shiro jerked out of the doze he’d been in, sitting in a chair near his bed.

“Oh, you’re awake. Good. I got really worried.”

Keith stared disorientedly at his room. “How- I don’t- when did I get here? What happened? The last thing that happened was Lance, and then…” He couldn’t tell Shiro about the memories. He _had_ to find out what had happened. Also, if his memories were to be believed, he’d given Shiro his scar. There was no way _that_ memory could be pleasant.

“Lance said you were having some pain and he tried an advanced healing technique and then you collapsed.”

Keith let out a sigh of relief. Lance hadn’t told.

“I’m glad you’re asking your teammates for help. You don’t have to be alone anymore.”

Oh, but he was. He was more alone than ever. He couldn’t trust Shiro, and that was more painful to him than anything else.

“How long have I been out?”

Shiro gazed out the window as if he were tracking the movement of the sun. “Um… seems like… maybe six hours? We’ve been flying the whole time; Allura wants to get us as far away from the Fire Nation as possible.”

“You’ve been here the whole time?”

Shiro smiled a little. “Yeah. Lance was here at first, but once he’d determined that he hadn’t actually killed you he found something else to do. Are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah. I think I just need to be alone for a bit, okay?”

Shiro smiled and patted his shoulder. “Sure.”

He left the room, and Keith let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. He felt really bad for deceiving Shiro, but it was necessary. He examined his fingertips. He still didn’t know what had blocked his firebending, but he did know how he had done it. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, opening his hand. When he opened his eyes, a small flame was dancing across his palm. He let out a small crow of delight. He’d done it. He’d begun to firebend.

Then he noticed Allura in the doorway. She was looking at his flame with her expression a mix of fear and revulsion. Before he could say anything, before he could ask her to stay, she was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The dramatic irony of Shiro claiming that he won't ever be a gladiator amuses me.


	13. Chapter 13

 

“I’m sorry, man. I didn’t think that would happen.” Lance let out a depressed sigh. “I honestly thought it would help with your memories.”

“It did.”

“What?!”

Keith allowed himself a small smile. “I had a massive flashback. That’s why I was out. It had nothing to do with your healing methods, besides the fact that they dragged the memories out.”

“No way! So, you know why couldn’t firebend?”

Keith frowned. “No. I don’t think I’ve seen all of the memories. There’s a _lot_ missing. I keep having vague nightmares, but no solid memories.”

Lance frowned. “You think… I mean, we could try again…” He didn’t sound particularly thrilled at the idea.

Keith shook his head. “Bad idea. Fool Shiro once shame on us, but we won’t be able to fool him again. I mean, I may be stubborn, but I probably wouldn’t make _that_ mistake twice.”

“So…”

“I’ll just have to try to remember on my own.

 

 

 

Keith was separated from the group. The Fire Nation soldiers had managed to edge him away and he was surrounded. Not too bad, he could take them all out. But there was some uneasy feeling, like he’d felt separated and alone even though his friends were nearby. He blinked and suddenly he wasn’t in battle anymore.

\--------

Keith sat with his back to the wall, knees hugged to his chest, trying to ignore how sore he was. His punishment for throwing his fights with Lee? They were both in solitary confinement for two weeks. Could’ve been worse, but Keith _hated_ being alone. Which was odd, seeing as how he wasn’t a very social, but he’d lived for so long with his dad that being alone was unnatural.

“Hey. Is someone over there?”

Keith jumped as Shiro’s voice echoed to him. “What? How?”

“Oh, hey, tiny firebender! I didn’t catch your name, what is it?”

“Keith. Not that _you_ care.”

“What? Why wouldn’t I care?”

“I could’ve freed Lee!”

“Huh. You seem to care an awful lot about this Lee. Who is she?”

“My only friend. She was the only one who cared when I arrived, and we both swore we’d get away from the Fire Nation someday. How are you even talking to me right now?”

“Ventilation shaft. You know, I could be your friend too.”

“Why would you want to be my friend? I tried to kill you!”

Shiro laughed. “Well, despite that, I don’t really think you’re a bad kid. You just want to help out your friend, get a taste of freedom. Also, you’ve got talent. The goons who grabbed me just dropped out of the sky and smacked me over the head with a club. You have just some raw talent there that is going to waste here. And, you know, I don’t think that these people should run anybody’s life. I have a feeling you don’t want to be under their influence either.”

“No. I hate it here.”

“I hate what they’re doing here. Everybody should have a choice about where they go and what they think. But these guys are abducting kids and forcing them into service. I believe down to my core that doing that is wrong. So, what do you say? Friends?”

Keith smiled. “Sure. Friends.”

\---------------

(Author’s note: This flashback took a lot less time in reality that the last one did for the sake of plot convenience. Just roll with it.)

Lance looked up from his fight and let loose a curse. Keith was surrounded. And he was frozen, his eyes a million miles away. Or at least a few years back. When Lance had suggested that path to Keith, he didn’t think that he would have flashbacks in the middle of battle. He glanced to Shiro. Occupied. Good. He didn’t want to have to explain that situation.

He used a whip of water to smack all of Keith’s attackers away and then let it all splash onto Keith’s head. He started out of his dazed state and Lance rolled his eyes. _Stay in the moment, hot-head._

“Care to explain what happened out there, Keith?”

Keith sighed and faced Allura. Ever since he’d found out he was a firebender, Allura had been cold towards him at best, ignoring him at worst.

“You froze! In the middle of battle!”

“I-I know. It was just a… thing. It won’t happen again.”

“That ‘thing’ happening at the wrong time could put your whole team in jeopardy!”

“It was only for a few seconds. It won’t happen again.”

She glared at him. “Make sure that it doesn’t.”

 

 

 

Keith and Shiro were separated from the other paladins. They were alone in a wooded area, only two soldiers in between them and their teammates. The only problem was, the soldiers had a hostage. A little girl, maybe six or seven, from the nearby village.

“Drop your weapons. We’ll burn her, and you don’t want that, do you?”

Shiro put his hands up, and Keith dropped his sword.

_Clang._

_Clang_ went Lee’s sword as it clattered to the ground. Keith let out a sigh. He hated knocking her out, even if it didn’t really hurt her.

“Excellent. Now kill her.”

“What?!”

Shiro jerked up too. They’d chained him to a metal square, so he couldn’t earth-bend, but he pulled anyway.

“You heard me. Finish her off. You have to be able to do that in real life. You can’t just knock your enemies out.”

“I’m not going to kill Lee!”

“A pity.” The master stepped back and pointed at Lee’s unconscious body. “You had _such_ potential.”

“What… What’re you doing?”

“Finishing the job, since you’re too weak to.”

“No!”

Keith shot a firebending blast at the master, who stepped back, surprise in his eyes.

“Did you just fire-bend at me?”

“Leave her alone!”

Keith lashed out in blind anger, throwing punch after punch at the master, watching him skillfully re-direct the fire, or throw it back at Keith, who barely dodged. He could see Lee starting to get up behind the master, sword at the ready.

This was it. He could end this, all of it. All he needed was one good blast, and everybody would be free. Nobody was scared of the guards; they were only scared of the master. Keith took a deep breath, set his sights on the master and let out a massive blast, one that was sure to kill him, or at least badly injure him if he tried to dispel the flames.

He simply stepped to the side. At first, Keith didn’t understand. And then he saw Lee, Lee, who was right behind the master, right in the path of the flames with no escape, no way out, the crackling fire reflected in her terrified eyes.

“NO!”

Keith tried desperately to recall the flames, to pull them back, even as he knew he couldn’t, even as he knew that fire was uncontrollable after it left you. Lee put her hands up, futilely, hopelessly as the flames hit her, licking across her body in hungry tongues, all consuming fire, burning, taking fire.

“No,” Keith sobbed, rushing to her as she fell, catching her before she hit the ground, “No!”

“K-Keith. Keith, I’m sorry. I wanted us to go to the Air Temples.”

“No, no, please, no! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Keith could feel the salty tears dripping down his face, knew he was showing weakness, and weakness wasn’t allowed, but he _didn’t care._

“Not… not your fault. Please… don’t blame you… I’m sorry.”

Her hand in his went limp and he let out a cry, an inhuman, animal cry of pure agony and horror. He could see Shiro struggling against his bonds, could see his other classmates staring, and he clutched her.

“You see what happens? You killed her anyway. Excellent firebending. I see you still have some potential.”

“I’m never doing it again. I’m _never_ going to firebend _ever_ again!”

“Talented or not though, you attacked me. This calls for punishment.”

Keith knew he deserved punishment, not for attacking the master, but for losing control, for being blind for… for killing his best friend.

The master pulled off his ring, a Fire Nation crest, and heated it up. Keith could hear Shiro shouting, but he didn’t notice, he barely gritted his teeth when the master pressed the hot ring into the flesh on his arm, barely noticed the smell of burning flesh, barely registered his own physical pain because nothing, _nothing_ could _ever_ hurt as much as the pain inside.

\--------------

“Keith? Keith, snap out of it!”

Keith shook his head, fighting back the tears that came to his eyes. So that was why. That was his burden, his sin to carry. His pain to keep. He understood, understood why, when Shiro learned that he’d locked it away he hadn’t told him. Why he’d warned Lance not to mess with it. But at the same time, he resented Shiro for that choice. He shouldn’t’ve ever let Keith forget what he’d done.

“Alright. We’re going to move away and then let her go. Don’t make any sudden moves, alright?”

The two soldiers moved to the side, keeping a firm grip on the girl. When they were a safe distance, they ran for it, shoving the girl away.

But one of them turned back, and Keith saw it, saw it a few moments before it happened. The flames. The terror. A young girl burning. He could stop it. He _had_ to stop it. Had to save this girl, had to save Lee, if he could’ve, he would’ve.

He made a run for it, shoving the girl to the side just before the flames hit her, feeling the flames burn, burn against his torso, licking across his clothes and melting his skin, the searing pain, the terrible agony as he crumpled to the ground.

Shiro ran, ran to his injured teammate, seeing the two men stop and nod to each other obviously plotting something, but he barely registered that as he flipped Keith over, hissing at the sight of the burn. Keith moaned, and his eyes were unfocused, a million miles away.

“Lee, I did it,” he mumbled, “I’ve made it up.”

\---------------

Solitary confinement for disobeying orders. Keith just sat there, listless. Hugging his knees to his chest and ignoring the world around him.

The wall burst open, and Shiro stuck his head through, quickly pulling the rest of him to follow. Keith watched with detached interest.

“Keith, I’m going to get you out of here. Come on.”

Keith didn’t respond. Shiro took his hand.

“Come on. Let’s go.”

Keith followed, letting Shiro tug him along. He didn’t deserve this. He didn’t deserve freedom. After all, he could never be free of his crimes.

\----------------

Cold. It was cold. There was snow everywhere, and Shiro was talking to a dark-skinned woman dressed in furs.

“He won’t eat, he won’t move, he won’t sleep, he just sits there. I don’t know what to do, and he’s fading fast.”

There was a humming noise, and Keith saw water glowing on the woman’s hands as she waved them over him.

“He’s traumatized.”

“I know. He… he saw some pretty awful things.”

“And he’s… a firebender?”

“He’s only a child.”

“I know. I don’t think there’s much I can do. If he’s that lost in himself, there may not be a way to pull him out. Unless… I could lock away his memories.”

“What?”

“If… I might be able to lock his memories away. He’d remember basic abilities that children his age would have; how to talk, how to walk, how to eat and the like, but he won’t be able to remember anything specific beyond the point when he wakes up. You can make up a believable story. But… he may lose his firebending as well.”

Shiro lowered his head. “He… I don’t think he’ll want it anyway. Please. I just… he’s been through a lot, and I want to give him at least the semblance of a normal life.”

The woman sighed and put her hands on Keith’s head, the glowing starting up again as he slipped into a deep sleep.

\-----------------

Keith surged out of the water, gasping.

Lance stumbled back.

“Whoa! What’s wrong with you?”

Lance didn’t look too good. He had dark circles under his eyes, and his shoulders were slumped.

“What? What happened?”

“I dunno, man. You had these really awful burns, and we weren’t sure if you were going to make it. Allura looked really shook and kept saying how she should’ve been nicer. Been sitting here keeping the water going.”

“You’ve been up all night?”

“All night? You’ve been out for five days! We all thought you were going to die!”

“You were up for five nights in a row?”

Lance yawned. “Allura had to come in and wake me up a few times. Got a real nice lecture on how I couldn’t fall asleep if even if I was about to pass out.”

Keith shook his head as the full force of his memories came crashing down on him.

“Shiro! Where’s Shiro?! I _need_ to talk to him.”

Lance avoided his gaze.

“What?”

“Well, we found you alone in the woods with the black lion next to you. Shiro wasn’t there. He wasn’t anywhere.” Lance looked Keith right in the eyes, his blue eyes like a stormy sea. “Shiro’s missing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought so much about getting to this point that I didn't plan for what comes after. There may not be updates for a while.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I live! Sorry about the wait. I had extreme writer's block.

After much debate among the paladins, Keith was elected leader. Filling Shiro’s shoes, however, was easier said than done.

\-------------------

“Keith! On your left!”

Keith turned and blocked a swordsman’s strike with his own blade. The battle had been over! Where had this man come from?! Then he recognized the swordsman. He’d been there. There in that terrible underground place. He’d helped the master carry out punishment and force them to fight.

“ _You_ ,” he growled. Without conscience effort, flames crept along his hand, pushing up his sword and traveling onto the other man’s sword. “You helped! You hurt people! You hurt _children_!”

The flames licked the man’s hand and he shouted in pain and panic. “I didn’t! I- ah!”

“You _did_! What you did was monstrous! You were one of them!”

“How do you know?! How did you find that out?! That was secret! No one was supposed to know!”

Keith was overcome with unconquerable anger as he spontaneously burst into flame. “Why would you ever willingly participate in that?! Why?!” The flames grew hotter and hotter and bigger, beginning to burn the man, who could not break away as Keith held onto his wrists. “Why did you go unpunished?!”

“I’m sorry,” the man screeched, “Please, I’m sorry about whatever happened to your family! I’m sorry if you lost a sibling! I’m sorry!”

“Keith, calm down!” A spray of water from the river quenched Keith’s fire, although most of the water turned to steam. Lance was standing inside of the river’s flow, his face determined, but also… frightened? “What do you think you’re doing?!”

“He was there,” Keith growled, “He helped.”

Lance marched to the man, his hands glowing and providing relief for the burns that Keith had created. “That’s no excuse! You can’t just lose your temper like that! You could’ve seriously damaged him!”

“Good,” Keith replied, “He deserves it.”

Lance frowned, his eyebrows scrunching in anger. “You sound _exactly_ like one of them.”

“I do not! This is justice!”

“Look at him, Keith! Is this justice?!”

Keith gazed malevolently at the man, who flinched and immediately looked away when their eyes locked. He looked scared. And cowardly. And… in pain. Pain that Keith had caused. Pain caused by his fire.

“No.”

“You can’t do things like this! This is _exactly_ what we’re fighting against! This is the exact kind of thing that everybody hates the Fire Nation for! This is the _exact kind of thing that wiped the Air Nomads out_!”

Keith flinched. “I know. I’m sorry. Please don’t tell the others.”

“What?! This is exactly the kind of thing that they want to know about if it happens! Of _course_ we have to tell them!”

Keith desperately grabbed Lance’s wrist when he turned to go. “No! You can’t! They’ll all flip out! Allura… oh, flameo, Allura is going to _kill_ me! Or ignore me for another month, which is worse!”

“She’s going to kill you even more if you burn me,” Lance said quietly.

“What? Why would I burn you? I’m not going to burn you.”

“Are you sure?”

Keith looked down to see that Lance’s shirtsleeve and wrist were steaming, only not openly burned because of how wet the waterbender was. Keith released him immediately. “Oh! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to… Sorry!”

Lance shook his head. “Keith, you need to control that.”

“I’m sorry! I’m not trying to do it! I just… firebending is still a little new!”

“I know, I know. But about those anger flashes…”

“I… I don’t know.”

Lance tapped his chin thoughtfully. “You know, it might be a natural firebender thing. Like something that happens when they’re young. They probably learn to control it before hormones kick in, but if you never had that…”

“I’m sorry.”

“You need a master.”

Keith jerked away from Lance, shaking his head. No. Not a master. Not another master. Never again. _Ever_. What did Lance even think he was suggesting?!

“I mean a teacher,” Lance soothed, “Someone to help you control your fire. Another firebender.”

Keith snorted. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re the most wanted criminals alive, in the Fire Nation _and_ the Earth Kingdom, or at least Ba-Sing-Sae. The Water Tribes are the only places we don’t have wanted posters up in. Where am I supposed to find a firebending teacher? Besides, I don’t _want_ a teacher!”

Lance smirked. “If you get yourself a teacher in two weeks, I won’t tell the others about your anger flash.”

“Done,” Keith said quickly, “There has to be one _somewhere_.”

\---------------------

“No.”

“Sorry?”

“You’re too old.”

The firebending teacher shut the door in Keith’s face. Keith sighed and crossed his name off of his list. He’d tried every single firebending teacher in every city. No one. All of them either decided he’d been too old, or had recognized him or had decided he wasn’t “worthy,” or some other nonsense. There was only one name left on the list. Kullivan. Keith seriously doubted that this Kullivan would allow him in either, but it was worth a shot. And he only lived a few blocks down. Keith could try him and be back at the airship in enough time.

\------------------

Kullivan leaned forward in his chair. “You want me to teach you how to properly firebend?”

Keith nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Why?”

“I… I need to be able to control this.”

“What will you do?”

“Sorry?”

“Why do you want control?”

Keith took in a deep breath. “Because I don’t want to accidentally hurt anyone. I don’t want my firebending to be the source of someone else’s pain. I hate losing control and hurting people.”

“You must be truly desperate to come to me,” Kullivan said cautiously, “I am listed only at the very last of all firebending teachers.”

“Nowhere else will take me.”

Kullivan nodded. “Fine, then. Come here tomorrow. Sunrise exactly.”

It was all Keith could do not to hug the man. “Thank you sir.”

“Yes. Oh, and ‘Lee?’ Don’t disappoint me.”

\-----------------

“Keith! Keith, get up!”

“Mmm?”

Someone was shaking him. “Keith, get up or you’re going to be late! It’ll take an hour to get into town!”

Keith sat up with a yawn. “Lance, how do you stay up all night? It’s insane! You take every night watch!”

“I feel more awake when the moon is out. That’s the waterbenders’ way. The moon is our source of power. Now get up!”

“Fine,” Keith grumbled, “But being up at this hour is unnatural.”

“Hey, you picked the teacher. Now get going!”

\---------------

“This is another student of mine, Antok. I want to assess your firebending abilities, so you two are going to spar. I’ll step in if I think that it’s necessary.”

Antok, a large man with scars and bulging muscles, stepped forward and Keith got himself into a fighting stance. But Antok didn’t attack. At least not up front. He sent a stream of fire at Keith, which Keith waved away. Of course! He was a firebender, for the Avatar’s sake! He wasn’t going to _fistfight_ Keith!

Keith sent his own blast of fire, two quick attacks, one after the other. His muscles seemed to act of their own free will, slipping into patterns and fight plans that he’d used before, back in that underground prison. Dodge, attack, block, counter. Keith went on the offensive, backing Antok into a corner.

Or so he’d thought. Antok, in an amazing feat of agility Keith wouldn’t have thought his large frame was capable of, _flipped_ _over Keith_ , pivoting on the ground and bringing his foot in an arc into Keith’s head. Keith was knocked over, but he quickly got back to his feet, only to be attacked again, this time with the heel of Antok’s hand shoving upwards into his jaw. It was the last thing he saw.

\--------------

A splash of cold water in Keith’s face woke him up, and he panicked when he realized that his arms were pinned behind his back. He breathed out a long plume of fire, which stopped inches short of Kullivan’s face. He kept trying anyway, wrenching at whatever was holding him still and spitting tongues of fire. Eventually he tired, and stopped struggling, panting.

Kullivan raised an eyebrow. “Are we quite done?”

As an answer, Keith spat another stream of fire, and Kullivan started backwards, barely avoiding singed eyebrows. It turned out to be Antok holding him, and the firebender threw him into a wall, where cuffs automatically locked to his wrists and ankles, metal bands snaking around his chest and head to hold him still.

“What do you want,” Keith shouted, “Why are you doing this?!”

“Who are you,” Kullivan countered, “Where are you from?”

“I told you that! My name is Lee! I came from the Fire Colonies, why are you-” The cuffs tightened around his wrists and ankles.

“The cuffs know if you’re lying,” Kullivan warned, “They’ll tighten if you don’t tell the truth. When they tighten as far as they go, the band on your chest will tighten, breaking your ribs. If you still lie, then the one on your head will potentially burst your skull open. Now. Who are you?”

“Lee, from the-” Keith stopped talking, trying not to shout in pain as the cuffs tightened further, cutting off his circulation.

“If you keep lying, you could lose your hands and feet,” Kullivan warned, “So tell me. Who. Are. You.”

“Keith,” he gasped, “Keith Kogane!”

“Where did you come from?”

“None of your ever-flaming busine- ah!” The band on his chest tightened, and Keith thought he heard something crack. “I’m not lying!”

“Please. These are interrogation cuffs. They don’t just root out lies; they extract truths. Where are you from?”

“Earth Kingdom,” Keith yelped, but the band tightened again. “Okay! Fine! I don’t really know! Maybe the Fire Nation, but I’ve lived in the Earth Kingdom my whole life!” the bands threatened to tighten, but remained at their current tightness.

“Hm. A half-truth. You _used_ to live in the Earth Kingdom. You don’t anymore. Where do you live now?”

“Why does it matt- ah!”

“Where do you live?”

“I travel!”

“You said that you had my name on a list of teachers. There’s one problem; I’m not a teacher.  No place should’ve given you my name. So who gave you my name?”

“I don’t know, some guy at a training dojo! Ulaz or something!”

Kullivan leaned back, face a mess of emotions. “Ulaz? Why would he… but… You said you travel. Do you travel alone? Or do you have friends?”

Keith didn’t answer, and the chest band tightened. He wasn’t going to tell Kullivan anything. He didn’t know why Kullivan was doing this, but he wouldn’t talk. Never. “I- won’t-”

“So you _are_ traveling with another. Someone you want to protect, or you would’ve told me. Who are they?”

“No- alone- no one-” There was an audible _crack_ as his ribs broke under the pressure. The band on his chest loosened, presumably so that he would be able to talk. Keith held back a scream. He wouldn’t give Kullivan the satisfaction. He _wouldn’t_.

“We both know you’re lying. Who are you traveling with, and where are you staying? Are you a rebel?”

“No!”

The head strap tightened, squeezing and pushing his skull. Agony shot through him like white-hot knives, and he lost control of his body. He could feel the fire rising, swirling around him and trying to fill the room, Kullivan and Antok shouting in surprise. The cuffs all tightened simultaneously, and the fire went out as Keith screamed. He’d lost all control of his voice and heard every single secret, every single piece of information that Kullivan wanted pour out of his mouth. The cuffs loosened and dropped him, his broken self crashing to the ground, his vision flickering out as Kullivan began talking to Antok. Keith couldn’t understand them, and he didn’t try.

\-------------------

Allura tapped Lance on the shoulder. “Do you know where Keith is?”

Lance jumped. “Uh, no. No, why would I know that? No, uh, yeah, nope. Don’t know where Keith is.”

“Alright, what did you do? Am I going to find him frozen in a block of ice somewhere?”

“No, nope, no idea where Keith is, no blocks of ice, why don’t you try Hunk? _Great_ idea, Lance, okay, bye, Allura!” Lance dove into the river before she could ask any more questions. Keith should’ve been back by now. Lance shook his head, scaring some fish. He’d probably gotten himself into a mess, like normal. But he couldn’t risk Allura poking around and finding out that Keith was “fraternizing with the enemy.” He sighed and quietly began swimming up the river towards the town. Hopefully no one would notice a waterbender in their midst.

\----------------

Lance emerged from the water in a massive cavern. Just in time, too. The oxygen in his little bubble of air had been growing stale. A swirl of fire shot over his head, and he ducked back into the water with a yelp. “What the flameo,” he sputtered, surfacing again, “What was that for?!”

“How did you get in here,” a man shouted, sending more fire at him, “You’d have to swim under a mile of rock! No one can hold their breath that long!”

Lance smiled nervously. “Uh, large lung capacity?”

\---------------

“Sir, we found a lone waterbender in the training room. Orders?”

Another man raised an eyebrow. “Ah. You must be Lance. I’m Kullivan. Where are the rest of you?”

Lance coughed. “Sorry, what? Wait, Kullivan? Keith’s teacher?”

“Among other things, yes.”

“Wait, wait, how do you know who I am? Keith was supposed to be a lone firebender from the Fire Colonies!”

“And that’s what he told me. But I learned the truth. Even if I hadn’t found it from him, my associate Ulaz tells me that there are wanted posters of your friends’ faces. But where are the others? Where are Hunk, Pidge, Allura and Coran?”

“Not here. But they know where I am. If I don’t go back-”

“You’re lying,” Kullivan said confidently, “You didn’t tell anyone. No one else was supposed to know where Keith would be. You wouldn’t tell them on the vague hunch that he might be in some kind of danger that you couldn’t handle.”

“How do you…” Kullivan nodded to the space just behind him. Lance followed his gaze, confused until he saw Keith, lying crumpled on the floor like a puppet with his strings cut. He rushed to his friend. “What did you _do_ to him?!” Lance waterbent all of the river water he’d been soaked with onto his hands, which started to glow. He moved them slowly over Keith’s ribs, which, based on his rasping breath, were broken. His wrists and ankles had painful looking manacle marks on them and his hands and feet were purple, a little swollen. Burns laced his arms, and his shirt was partially burned away to reveal scorched skin. “You _burned_ him?!”

“The fire was his own. Do his head, too,” Kullivan advised.

Lance didn’t want to take heed of anything Kullivan said, but he moved his glowing hands to Keith’s forehead anyway, brushing his bangs aside to see extensive bruising that wrapped around his forehead and into his hairline. “What the flameo, guys! What is _this_ for?!”

“He shouldn’t have had my name. I had to be sure he was not a Fire Nation spy.”

“You’re a real jerk, you know that? He just wanted to hone his firebending! This was _completely_ unnecessary! Why would you even _need_ to check for spies?! Why is everybody in your creepy basement so hostile and paranoid?!”

“That is none of your concern,” Kullivan said stiffly, “I suggest that you all get in your airship and leave while you still can.”

Lance took a step back. “I’m sorry, did you just _threaten_ me? You couldn’t have possibly thought that you could threaten me. I’m a freaking _waterbender_ and there is a whole _under **water** _ river nearby. Water trumps fire! I’m not threatened by you! What is your _problem_?! You’re so paranoid!” Something clicked in his brain. “Oh. Oh ho ho. Oh. I just figured it out! You’re a resistance! You’re a bunch of firebenders fighting the Fire Nation! That’s why you were so concerned! But it’s okay! We’re freedom fighters too! We can work together!”

“We both fight for freedom, yes, but you recklessly attack and expose yourselves! The Flames of Marmora are undercover! We aren’t brash. We stick to the shadows. You have _nothing_ in common with us.”

“Well, maybe if you came and talked this out-”

“Enough! You will take your friend and leave!”

“Lance?”

Lance diverted his attention to the groggy Keith, whose eyes were unfocused. “Hey! What did you think you were doing, enrolling here? These guys are psycho!”

“S-sorry…”

“Man, next time we’re going to do extensive research on anyone we consider for a teacher!”

“D-don’t tell Allura.”

The urgency in Keith’s voice made Lance freeze. “What?! Of _course_ we’re telling Allura! This is _exactly_ the kind of thing we tell Allura! This is the kind of thing we tell everyone so that we can come back here with heavy backup! We’re telling Allura!”

“N-no! We can’t! She’ll get mad!”

“Well, I’d hope so!”

“She’ll get mad at _me_!”

“What?”

“She doesn’t like it when I…” Keith waved his hands in a vague firebending motion. “Yeah. And she doesn’t like the idea of me using it or accepting it.” He bit his lip. “She… _really_ doesn’t like firebending.”

“Keith, she won’t be mad at you! She’ll be mad at these…” Lance bit back some choice words. “ _Individuals._ Trust me. She’ll bring the whole airship down on these clowns.”

“We can’t let you leave then,” Kullivan said calmly, “Our cover cannot be blown.”

“Oh yeah? Watch me! I’ll-”

“No.” Everybody looked at Keith, who just shook his head. “We’ll leave peacefully. We won’t cause trouble. We won’t tell anyone. And I’ll stop firebending.”

“What?!”

“Firebending is too dangerous. I can’t control it, so… I’ll just leave it.”

“Wha- no! Wait, that doesn’t make sense! You can’t just _stop_! You can’t even keep it from exploding, how are you going to keep it from happening at all?!”

“I did it once. I can do it again.”

“Keith, I’m sorry, but this was hardly as traumatizing as your last experience, which is what caused you to lock it up last time. I mean… yeah.”

“Fire is dangerous! It just destroys! It can’t be trusted! You can take it away!”

Lance blinked. “Sorry, what?”

“A waterbender took it away last time! You can do it! Take it away from me, Lance!”

“No! I’m not going to lock up your firebending! I thought your biggest wish was to be able to bend! Don’t you want it?”

“Not like this,” Keith shouted at him, “I don’t want to be a bender if this is what it means! Take it away!”

“No!”

“It’s a curse, Lance! Firebending is a curse! Please! Take it!”

Kullivan shook his head. “No. It’s a curse, but it’s your curse to bear. And bear it you must.”

Keith rounded on him in anger. “You don’t get an opinion in this! Lance, are you going to take away my firebending or not?!”

“No. I’m not going to take it away from you. It’s _your_ birthright; you have to figure it out yourself.”

Keith glared coldly at him for a moment and then turned away, striding towards the door. “I can’t believe I thought you were my friend.”

“Hey,” Lance shouted after him, “Don’t you play that card! Friends know that sometimes they have to ignore what their friends want for their own good! If you want to be leader, you’re going to have to listen to your team! You have to be responsible! Don’t you walk through that door!”

The door slammed shut behind Keith.

“I _swear_ ,” Lance grumbled, “Okay. Uh. I guess we’re leaving.”

“Your friend bears the mark.”

“Sorry, what?”

“The mark of the flame. He wears it on his arm. Those with the flame mark are often followed by catastrophe.”

“So?”

“So, keep a close eye on him. Don’t let him out of your sight. For his protection, as well as your own.”

“…Riiiight. Okay. Well, I’ll just leave now, don’t mind-”

Kullivan grasped his wrist. “I am not joking, waterbender. Don’t let him out of your sight. You and your team’s safety depends on it.”

He released Lance, who ran out the door, dreading catching up with the fuming Keith, but wanting to put as much distance between himself and Kullivan’s unblinking eyes as possible.


	15. Chapter 15

“Lance? Can I talk to you?”

Lance looked up from the balls of water that he was juggling. “Oh. Hey, Allura. What’s up?”

“It’s Keith.”

Lance let out a groan. “Can we talk about something else for a change? I mean, once, just _once_ for a change of pace, I’d like you to come up to me and start a discussion about something _other_ than Keith. Whatever he’s done, I’m sure I don’t know what it is. There. Let’s talk about something else.”

“I’m worried about him.”

“Well, why don’t you go to _him_ about it? Leave me to my waterbending practice. Not that I mind you being here, Princess. You’re welcome to watch, anytime.”

“He’s been looking pretty sick. I think he might be coming down with something.”

Lance felt tension leave his shoulders. Oh. She wasn’t poking. “Oh, you just wanted a doctor. Okay. See, you should’ve opened up with that! I thought you wanted me to go talk with him about his feelings or something!”

“Well… I noticed… he hasn’t been firebending lately.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Do you know why?”

“Sure don’t.”

“Are you absolutely sure? He seemed very excited when he discovered he could do it. In his normal Keith way. It doesn’t make sense why he would just stop.”

“Mmm, see, remember those ‘feelings’ I talked about? We’re getting a little too close to that region. Steer clear. I’m a _medical_ healer. Emotions fall into a different category. Not something I can fix with glowing hands. Not my problem.”

“But doesn’t a patient’s recovery depend upon their emotions as well as their body?”

Lance opened his mouth and then shut it abruptly. “Uh. Right. Okay. You got me there. Fair enough. But honestly, I don’t know what the connection would be. Maybe he saw how much fire bothers you and is practicing where you can’t see him. Then again, this is _Keith_ we’re talking about, so the odds of him both noticing someone else’s emotions and then accommodating his schedule to account for those emotions are _highly_ unlikely.”

“Fire doesn’t bother me,” she said indignantly.

Lance held up a hand. “Okay, okay. I just figured that was the reason you looked at Keith like he was a roach for the first three weeks after he discovered his fire if you weren’t ignoring him entirely. My bad.”

Allura blushed a deep scarlet. “I didn’t- I wasn’t- I-”

“Hey, I know. The Fire Nation destroyed your people and family. I get it. It wasn’t fun. But he isn’t any different.”

“I- I know that. I was so sad about the loss of my family and my people, and so angry about how the Fire Nation destroyed them. But… I started to think of the rest of you as my family. And then when I found out that Keith was Fire Nation…”

“It destroyed your world. You didn’t know what to think.”

“Yes. But… nothing about him has changed. When he was burned… I was so worried. I was so scared that I was going to lose my family again. Because… well, he _is_ my family. Fire and all.”

“Maybe you should go tell him that.”

“You know what, Lance?”

“What?”

“Maybe you can’t fix emotions with your glowing hands, but I think you do a very good job fixing them anyway. Thank you.”

She gave him a quick hug and strode out the doors, smiling slightly to herself. Lance smiled a little too. Man. He should start _charging_ for this kind of thing.

\---------------------------

Pidge squinted suspiciously at Keith. Was it just her, or did he look… paler than usual? “Hey Keith?”

“What?”

“Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m fine. A little cold, though. I wish Allura hadn’t parked us on a mountain.”

Pidge frowned. It was a little chilly, but not really cold. “Shouldn’t your fire keep you warm? I read that a firebender can survive in colder climates because their natural heat keeps them from freezing. Also that they exude a little heat. Probably useful if they ever decide to invade the North Pole stealthily; they won’t need fire if they can all just cuddle around a firebender.”

“Somehow I just can’t see a bunch of firebenders being cuddled.”

“That’s just because you’re you. I bet the firebenders would love it. See? Natural heat,” she continued, reaching for his hand, “If we ever get cold we can just-” She dropped his hand immediately. “You’re ice cold!”

“I guess that author didn’t know what he was talking about,” Keith said with a shiver, “I’m going back inside. Good luck getting your plants to grow in this barren wilderness.”

Pidge frowned at his retreating back. Something was wrong. She just wished she knew what.

\--------------------------

“We’ve been found! Allura! Fire up the engines!”

“They’ll take at least ten minutes to get warmed up!”

“We don’t have that kind of time! The Fire Nation is right outside!”

“How did they get so close?! They’d need a fire at some point, and we would’ve seen the smoke!”

Pidge nodded. “Firebender’s natural heat. They all cuddled up to a firebender.”

She shot a triumphant smile at Keith, who nodded. “Right. I’ll hold them off. Hunk, Pidge, you too. Lance, you stay here. We might need you to drop us an ice ladder if we can’t get away when you’re going to lift off. Let’s go!”

Pidge tripped another firebender with her vines and then raised her arms. The vines all flocked to her, and she rose above everybody else, using her massive arms to smack soldiers aside with ease.

“Pidge! Hunk! Keith! Let’s go!” Lance was waving frantically at them from the airship, which was lifting off.

“Keith!”

Pidge turned at Hunk’s shout to see the firebender swaying on his feet and collapsing, shivering and coughing. Oh! So _that_ was his problem! He was sick! Moron! Why had he come out to fight anyway?!

“Guys, we have to go! Come on!”

Pidge picked Keith up and threw him into the airship, sending him bowling into Lance, who shouted in surprise. “Sorry,” Pidge called, her vines growing taller and taller until she could just step onto the airship. Hunk launched himself off of the ground, slipping into the airship as the doors started to close.

“We’re all here,” Lance called from underneath Keith, “Let’s go Allura! Get _off_ , will you,” he snapped to Keith, who shook his head disorientedly. Lance shoved him off, growling. “Thanks, Pidge! I really wanted to have a person thrown into me today!”

“Glad I could help you out, then. He’s sick. Help me out, here.”

Lance spun the water over his hands, moving them over Keith’s head. His eyebrows shot up, and he grabbed Keith’s arm, dragging him down the hallway to his room. He shoved the feverish firebender onto his bed. “What is _wrong_ with you?!”

“I- I just wanted to-”

“You _idiot_! Do you know why you’re sick?”

“Because sickness is a problem that all humans experience?”

“Because you’re not firebending,” Lance shouted, “You have to firebend to keep your body healthy! It expels extra heat and holding all of the heat in is giving you a fever, you idiot!”

“You know why I’m not firebending!”

“You don’t have to do anything big! Just light a couple of candles! Just do _something_!”

“I can’t! If I let _any_ of it back, it’ll _all_ come back! All of the explosions and burning and anger flashes will all come back!”

“You know what? I’m done keeping your secrets for you! This is just hurting the team! I’m telling them about the anger flashes and why you’re not firebending. I won’t tell them about Kullivan, but I’m going to tell them everything else! They deserve to know!”

“NO! Please! Don’t tell them! They’ll all start to worry, and _that’s_ going to hurt the team!”

“They’re worrying already! Allura was worried, Pidge was worried, and I’m sure Hunk is worried too! Not telling them is killing the team!”

“Not telling us what?”

Lance swiveled to see the rest of the team standing in the doorway, Allura in the front, her arms crossed. “I- uh- I just-”

“What are you hiding?”

“I-”

Allura’s eyes narrowed. “Wait. Not you.” She turned to Keith. “What are you hiding, Keith?”

“I- I’m not-”

“Keith, stop lying to us! Tell us what’s wrong!”

“I- nothing’s wrong. I-”

“Fine, then,” Allura said coldly, “Lie to us all you want. I thought you might be different from what we’re fighting. But I guess I was wrong.” She turned on her heel and left, heading back towards the control room.

“No! Allura! Wait! Ah!” Keith put his head in his arms. “Why won’t she just- Argh!”

“This is your own fault,” Lance told him coldly, “You shouldn’t have lied to them. Better come clean now before I tell them.”

Keith poured out the whole story to their teammates, including the parts about Kullivan and the Flames of Marmora. When he was done, he hugged his knees up to his chest, resting his chin on his knees and looking at them all with anxious eyes that pleaded for them to understand. Nobody spoke.

“Wow,” Pidge said finally, “that, uh, that’s quite a lot. How long has this been going on?”

“Since Shiro’s disappearance,” Keith replied quietly, “And mostly since you elected me leader. I… I don’t think that I’m cut out to be the leader. I can’t replace Shiro, and I can’t even control my fire. Choose someone else. _Please_.”

“Keith,” Hunk said quietly, “ _no one_ can replace Shiro. And none of us expected you to. We elected you to be your own leader, and make your own choices. But you have to include us; you can’t lead without help. We’re your friends. We can help you.”

“Allura…”

“We’ll help you with Allura. She’ll understand, I _promise_. But you can’t shut us out anymore.”

Suddenly, the airship rocked side to side, listing hard to port. Lance scrambled to the window. “Fire Nation airships! They’ve caught up to us!”

Keith was climbing out of bed, reaching for his sword, and Hunk shoved him back. “Stay. We’ll take care of this. You’re sick.”

“But-”

“Keith! Stay! We can handle this!”

Lance nodded to him. “Hunk’s right. You’re not going to be able to help us here. We need long distance. Your sword won’t help.”

There were ten airships surrounding theirs, and Lance pulled out his pouch of water, running with the ice blade he created and cutting a huge gash in the airship. He saw Hunk doing the same within his peripheral vision and saw Pidge batting away grappling hooks, her vines surrounding her. They could pull this off!

\---------------

Keith looked out the window, his finger tapping restlessly on his leg. He _hated_ feeling useless. He hated- wait, what was that? He looked down and saw another airship coming from under them. So _that_ was the plan! They’d lured the paladins to the top and now they were going to knock them all off. Well. Not if _he_ could help it. He opened the window, judging the distance to the airship. He would only get one shot at this.

\--------------

The airship pitched, nearly knocking them off of the top, but mostly just knocking them off balance.

“What was that?!”

“There,” Pidge shouted, “There was one under us! It was trying to knock us all off!”

“Why did it stop?!”

“Look,” Hunk called, “It’s Keith!”

Sure enough, the firebender was sliding down the side of the airship, his sword dug into the thick canopy and slicing through it. With all of the air leaking out of the blimp, the airship hadn’t had enough height to do more than bump them.

“He’s going down,” Hunk shouted in horror, “He won’t be able to get back up! Pidge, can your vines…”

“Not long enough! We _have_ to go down too!” Pidge slid in through an open window. “Allura! We need to go back down!”

“Good idea,” the princess called, “We can lose them!”

“No, it’s Keith! He’s going down!”

They all held onto the surface tightly as Allura pulled the airship closer to the falling one.

“Come on,” Pidge called, holding a vine out, “Jump, Keith!”

He did, sailing through the air, but missing Pidge’s vine by inches and smacking into the side of the airship, clawing desperately for a handhold. His grasping hands found a metal support and he hung desperately by one hand.

“Keith! Hold on!”

“What do you _think_ I’m doing!”

Lance latched Keith’s wrist to the support with ice, but that wasn’t going to solve the problem.

“Lance, hold this.” Pidge handed the waterbender a vine that she had knotted around her waist. “Hunk, hold onto Lance’s ankles. You’re the anchor; _don’t let us fall_.”

She jumped over the side of the airship, nearly dragging Lance off of the airship with her, but Hunk caught hold of his ankles, and Pidge stopped with a jerk right above Keith. She stretched out a hand. “Keith! Grab on!”

He dragged his other arm up, reaching, reaching for her hand, but he fell just inches short. “I can’t!”

“Your sword! Use it to get up a little higher!”

“But we’ll go down!”

“That doesn’t matter! You’ll die if you don’t!”

“We might die!”

“Keith! Just do it! We can fix the airship! We can’t fix you if you’re dead!”

Keith nodded and jammed his sword into the airship’s canvas, dragging himself up a few inches and catching Pidge’s wrist. She seized his wrist tightly, and the vine moved up as air began to blow out of the hill.

“Hold on tightly!”

All of them grabbed tightly onto a handhold that Allura had added in case something like this ever happened, and the airship careened towards the ground. They plowed through trees, only stopping when they crashed into a boulder. The airship listed to the side, falling over, and the paladins slid to the ground.

“They’re going to find us,” Keith said quietly, “They’ll see the wreckage.”

Allura hurried out of the airship, her face pale. “Are you all here? Are you all alright?”

“We’re all here,” Lance said tiredly, “We’re all okay. Just some bruises. Well, a _lot_ of bruises,” he amended as about twenty of them flared into painful existence.

“I’m sorry,” Keith said, “I shouldn’t have put the gash in the side.”

Allura let out a sigh. “That’s alright. I saw the whole thing. You didn’t have another option. I’m just glad you’re all okay.”

Pidge waved her hands around, and the vegetation began to repair itself, creating a canopy over the broken airship. “They’re coming, and I can’t stop that, but I can delay them by making it impossible to land right on top of us.”

Keith’s nose twitched. “Oh. Oh, no! No, Pidge, get it down!”

“What?”

“Smoke.”

“Sorry, what?”

“They’re going to set it on fire!”

Sure enough, the canopy suddenly burst into flames, flaming bits of foliage dropping onto the ground and catching. A sudden wind picked up, spreading the fire.

“Allura! Help Coran fix the rip! We’ll get rid of this!”

“How?!”

“Just trust me,” Keith shouted, “Get in there!”

She nodded, running back into the airship, and Lance shook his head. “We can’t put all of this out! There’s too much!”

“Not for a firebender.”

Keith took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. He held his arms out and slowly brought them back towards himself, all of the fire coming towards him. It surrounded him, a swirling maelstrom of white-hot flames. Then he felt it. He felt it slipping away from him. Fire _hated_ being controlled. It wanted to be free to burn and destroy. But he couldn’t let it. He held tightly onto it, trying to slowly destroy it, but it resisted his push.

Lance looked around as soldiers emerged from the trees, holding swords and spears.

“Nowhere to run, kiddos. You’re ours now!”

Lance glanced at Keith, whose face was twisted in concentration, the fire swirling around him. They _couldn’t_ let the soldiers get close to him; if he lost control of that, they’d all die in a giant fireball of doom. The water flowed out of his pouch, giving him two water whips. Next to him, he could see Pidge and Hunk getting ready to fight. They weren’t going to go quietly.

Keith struggled to keep the fire under control, seeing his friends outside of the circle of fire, fighting back soldiers. He wished he could help them, but he couldn’t stop paying attention to the fire for even an instant. A spear jabbed into the circle, nearly hitting him. A group of spearmen had encircled him and were poking their spears into the fire.

“Idiots,” he shouted, “Are you trying to kill us all?!”

Another spear jutted into the circle, and he jumped to the side, his elbow dipping into the fire. He screamed at the pain blazing through his arm as the flames licked hungrily at their first burnable object. He stumbled back into the center of the circle as a cry of pain rang out from Hunk. Keith struggled to keep his temper under control. He could _not_ lose control and explode right now.

A third spear stabbed into the circle, this one catching him in the hip. He collapsed to his knees with a cry of pain that was echoed by Lance’s. The edges of his vision flickered with flames. It would be so easy to give up and burn them all. But he couldn’t. They were depending on him, and he wouldn’t-

A scream pierced his ears. Pidge’s scream of pain. Pidge, the smallest of them, the one he had to protect for her brother and father. The youngest. He let the flames take him.

Pidge saw the circle of fire tighten, getting sucked towards Keith like he was a vacuum and then radiate outwards in an ever-expanding circle of fire. His eyes were _glowing_ , his irises pure fire. “Keith,” she screamed as the flames raced toward her. His eyes flickered from the fire to their normal purple with flecks of yellow, widening in horror. The curtain of fire parted, passing harmlessly around her team and the trees. The Fire Nation soldiers weren’t so lucky, and they all frantically started rolling around on the ground in an attempt to put out the fires that had started on their clothes and hair.

Keith lurched forward to his knees and his eyes rolled back in his head as he slumped forward. Pidge rushed to him, wincing when she jostled her broken ankle, and caught him before he hit the ground. Burns laced his arms and torso; he’d taken so much of the fire himself before he released it.

“Lance,” she screamed, “Help!”

The waterbender looked up from where he was putting out the remaining small fires and raced towards her. His wrist was hanging awkwardly at his side, clearly broken, but the water glowed on his remaining hand as he moved it carefully over Keith. “He’s just burnt out. That firebending… it must have taken all of his strength. Those burns are going to be painful when he wakes up, though.” He kept his hand on the hip wound, and the bleeding slowed to a trickle. Then Lance keeled over too.

Pidge fought back a wave of exhaustion herself. She _had_ to get both boys on the airship. “Hunk,” she called, “Are you alright?”

The earthbender had taken a pretty hard blow to the head, but aside from a slightly dazed state, seemed to be fine. “Yeah,” he said shakily, “Yeah, hold on. I’ll help.” He scooped Lance up, but when he rose to stand, the cold point of a sword was pressed to the back of his neck. A man appeared beside Pidge, also pointing a sword at her.

“I wouldn’t advise moving unless we tell you to. You’re ours now; high priestess Haggar will be interested to meet you.” The man’s lips curled into a warped smile when he saw the little burn scar flame on Keith’s arm. “Oh, yes. _Very_ interested.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh, you thought the creepy innkeeper lady was the first blood bender? Think again.

Lance felt like some waterbender had dumped him in a river and told him to swim upstream while the other waterbender tried to drown him. In less words, he was _exhausted_. Not to mention that his wrist was broken and he had minor cuts everywhere. And for some odd reason, he had a feeling like he was a piece of meat hanging in a butcher’s shop.

“Lance. Lance, please, wake up!”

“Go ’way Pidge,” he grumbled, “Five more minutes.” He heard the rattling of chains and then something kicked him, _hard_. He swayed back and forth and his wrist cried out in agony, as he was made aware that he had chains wrapped around his wrists. “Ow,” he yelped, opening his eyes, “Pidge, my wrist is broken! That _hurt_!”

“Yeah, well, it wasn’t a picnic for me either, she hissed, “My ankle is broken! Kicking people is flaming painful!”

When Lance’s eyes adjusted to the relative gloom, he saw that they were in a room, chained to the ceiling, Keith chained next to him on one side, Pidge on the other. Hunk was chained to a wall, so at least his feet were on the ground, but he didn’t look too happy. “Wait, what?! Where are we?!”

“Fire Nation airship,” she replied miserably, “Right after you passed out we got surrounded. But they didn’t find Allura and Coran, so there’s still hope.”

“Right,” Hunk said, “Two non-bending members of a pacifist nation against a whole fleet of airships with highly trained soldiers and firebenders. _That’s_ going to go well.”

“Don’t be such a pessimist, Hunk! Remember when we first met up with them? Allura had just taken out a whole airship! And then she proceeded to knock out Keith!”

“Yeah. But there’s that woman. The Priestess.”

“Haggar,” Pidge shuddered.

“Sorry,” Lance interrupted, “Who?”

“Zarkon’s high priestess, Haggar. She’s the reason that fire picked up so quickly. She created a wind.”

“But- but that’s impossible! She’d have to be an-”

“Airbender,” Pidge supplied, “Yeah. That’s what we thought too. I can’t really see from here, but how’s Keith?”

Lance turned his head carefully to look at the firebender. His head lolled forward, his chin touching his chest. Most of his shirt was burned away, and his burns were an angry red; his hip wound had started bleeding again, although not badly. “Unconscious,” Lance supplied, “How long have we been here?”

Pidge tried to shrug. She couldn’t quite manage it, but Lance could guess the intent. “About a day from what I can tell.”

“Do they take us down to feed us or anything?”

“They haven’t fed us, so no.”

“What if I said I had to go bathroom?”

“I suppose that’s the reason they’re not feeding us.”

“Okay. So what are our options.”

“Our options so far appear to be wait for Keith to wake up and wait for Allura and Coran to rescue us. We had an option of wait for you to wake up, but now you’re awake, and you have no other options for us.”

“Well, we could wait for this Haggar lady to show up and then kick her and steal the keys.”

“Been there, tried that,” Hunk supplied, “Not fun.”

Lance nudged Keith’s leg with his foot. “Hey. Hey, Keith. Wake up. Keith. Keith, wake up. Hey, what’re we even going to do if Keith wakes up? Did we think that far ahead?”

“Well, potentially he can use his firebending to melt the chains.”

“Potentially.”

“Well, yes. There’s always the possibility that he’ll be too tired to firebend. Or won’t be able to focus, or will be having painful memory flashes.”

“Painful memory flashes?”

“Well, Hunk and I were talking about it, and we think… we think that this ‘master’ guy might be Zarkon. Potentially maybe probably.”

“How’d you come to _that_ conclusion?”

“Uh. Well. When we got captured, the guys who was capturing us recognized that little scar on his arm. The flame one.”

“So?”

“ _So_ , he said that Haggar would be interested in it. And where would she learn about it? From Zarkon! I mean, yes, statistically speaking, there is a high probability that all of the higher generals know about it and that Zarkon just told Haggar, but honestly, she would probably be more interested in an escapee from something that Zarkon was supposed to be in charge of.”

“Wait, even if Zarkon is this guy, why would Keith have a problem? Is Zarkon _here_?”

“No, but typically Haggar doesn’t leave Zarkon’s side, so she might have been there!”

“That’s a bit of a stretch.”

“Well, _fine_ , but the whole chaining and the fact that he lost control earlier could still be leading to bad memories too! Are you happy?!

Lance nodded. “Okay. That’s plausible. You should’ve started with that!”

“If it didn’t hurt so much, I’d kick you again.”

“Guys? What- where are we?”

Lance turned his head to see Keith lifting his head weakly and staring bleakly at their surroundings. “Hey, welcome back to the land of the living and welcome to our prison cell. Nice and cozy, and in the absence of beds, we get chains. Aren’t we lucky?”

“Wait- the fire! Did- did any of you get burned?” He twisted frantically on his chains, trying to look at all of them. “Did I burn any of you?”

“Keith, it’s okay,” Pidge soothed, “We’re all okay. Nobody got burned but you.”

Keith let out a sigh of relief and stopped struggling against the chains. “I heard- when you screamed- and I thought- because I lost control-”

“It’s okay. None of us were hurt. You had enough control to protect us. You did well, Keith.”

The door opened, and their jailer walked in, a woman in a hood who _had_ to be Haggar behind him. “High Priestess, I saw, and I thought you should know.”

“Let me see.”

The jailer walked right up to Keith, who kicked out at him. The jailer caught his foot and twisted it, making Keith yelp. The jailer brushed his bangs away, revealing the bruising on his forehead.

“Kullivan,” Haggar hissed, “You know where he is! You’re one of them!”

“I’m not!”

“Perhaps not. But you still know where his pathetic little rebellion is holed up. You should be perfectly happy to tell me where he is; he evidently was not kind to you.”

“Oh, because you’ve been so much better,” Keith snapped.

The jailer gave him a stunning blow to the face. “You don’t speak to the high priestess in that manner!”

“Now, now. Take him down.”

The jailer glared at Keith, but lowered the chains so that his feet could touch the ground, and he immediately yanked on the chains, pulling them out of the jailer’s grasp. He swung them towards Haggar like a whip, but she simply seized the end and pulled, yanking Keith forward. She handed the chains to the jailer.

“Try to keep ahold of this,” she hissed at him, sweeping out of the room and letting the jailer drag the unwilling Keith out behind her. They proceeded to a single room with a chair, which the jailer shoved Keith into, pulling his chain through a loop in the floor and dragging it under the chair legs to be wrapped around the top of the chair. Keith yanked experimentally on the chains, but they were tight and didn’t budge an inch.

“Now, then. You’ve proven that you have spirit, but that will only take you so far. So, tell me. Where. Is. Kullivan.”

\--------------------

“Okay, so when the witch comes back-”

“She’s an airbender, Lance.”

“There is _no way_. Air Nomads are supposed to be peaceful! That’s why they got wiped out; they didn’t do fighting stuff! I mean, I’m sure that they tried, but they just didn’t train for it! There’s no way that an airbender would join the Fire Nation.”

“Lance, if there can be good firebenders, then there can be bad airbenders!”

“What?”

“We’ve accepted that Keith is a good firebender. Why is it so hard to accept that there’s an evil airbender?”

“Because the Air Nomads have been wiped out for nearly a century, that’s why! Allura and Coran only survived because a couple of waterbenders froze them! Why would a waterbender freeze an evil airbender to keep her alive?!”

Pidge let out a deep sigh. “Because, _Lance,_ if there can be _good_ firebenders and _evil_ airbenders, then there can also be _evil waterbenders_! Or, I don’t know, maybe Zarkon kidnapped her when she was a baby and so she’s still alive!”

“She was really fast, strong and flexible for an eighty-year-old. Hold it, wait up, while we’re on that topic, how is _Zarkon_ alive?! He was already an adult when the Air Nomads were wiped out! How old is that guy?!”

Pidge shrugged. “He’s probably not really in the fight anymore. He’s probably a crusty old man who plans things from the safety of an airship.”

“Huh. Maybe. Well. When Haggar comes back, Keith will probably be doing his yanking and struggling and generally making himself difficult thing. She’ll be distracted, and then, Hunk you trip her, and we’ll kick her in the face and also the jailer and then Keith can grab the keys.”

“We did mention the futility of trying to kick her the first time, right?”

“Yes, Hunk, you did. But the first time you didn’t have a semi-free Keith! Now we do!”

“This isn’t going to work.”

“Sh, I can hear them coming!”

Pidge and Hunk fell silent, waiting as the footsteps sounded nearer. Hunk frowned. “There’s something wrong. There’s only two pairs of feet.”

“Maybe Haggar left. Good. It’ll be easier without her.”

“It sounds like they’re dragging something.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing.” He _hoped_ it was nothing.

The door opened, but neither Haggar nor the jailer walked in through the door. Instead the jailor threw something in and shut the door.

“Perhaps tomorrow?”

“No. I can tell that he will not reveal anything because of bodily harm. It is not his way. Perhaps…” Her voice faded away as she walked down the hallway with the jailor.

Lance turned his attention on the lump on the floor. He squinted, wishing that there was more light so he could see- “Keith?!”

Pidge let out a muffled sob. “By the Avatar, what did they _do_?!”

Keith didn’t answer. He was too busy being unconscious. Lance couldn’t see much, but what he could see was covered in bruises. He swore vehemently and called down various curses on Haggar, the jailer and Kullivan for being so obvious and signature about his torture methods.

“Lance,” Pidge asked quietly, “Did- uh- well- is there any water in the cell? I know you said there wasn’t, but we really, _really_ need to get out of here, or Keith isn’t going to make it. So… can you try again?”

Lance chuckled humorlessly. “The only liquid in this cell is our own blood.” Wait. Their own blood. It was still a liquid, right? There was water in blood! Could he… bend blood? The thought was sinister and creepy, but if it got them out of this cell… He let out a deep breath and concentrated on a trickle of blood that had come from a cut over his eyebrow. He moved one finger, and the blood moved with it.

“Lance?”

“Pidge, I can bend blood!”

“…Yay?”

“Yes, yay!” He bent the blood off of his wrists from where the manacles had rubbed them raw. It wasn’t a lot, but there had to be more blood in this cell.

Pidge shuddered as her cuts were bled dry. “Lance, that’s _weird_. Also, a little creepy!”

“I know, I know! I’m sorry!”

It wasn’t enough. Even with the combined blood from the minor cuts on Pidge, Hunk and himself, it was still a pathetic amount to work with. Lance said a silent apology to Keith and took the blood from his hip wound, feeling terrible for not telling him first. No doubt Keith didn’t really have the blood to spare. But at least he had enough ice to slice through his chains, quickly catching Pidge when he sliced through her bonds.

“I can land by myself,” she told him irritably, “I’m not helpless.”

“As your healer, I recommend not landing on that ankle. You’ll just make it worse.”

“Oh, yeah? And what about _your_ wrist? Should you be catching people with it?”

“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” he said loftily, slicing through Hunk’s chains, “Hunk, grab Keith.” Lance slung one of Pidge’s arms over his shoulders.

“I can walk by myself!”

“Now’s not the time to be prideful, Pidge!”

Lance sliced through the door, kicking it down and limping down the hallway with Pidge in tow and Hunk behind them, the unconscious Keith slung over his shoulder.

“And where do you think you’re going?” Haggar slid into the hallway, blocking their only way out.

“Bye,” Lance shouted. He opened a window, looking for the nearest airship. He strung a line to it and created a zipline. “Hunk, go!”

Hunk jumped, sliding down to safety with Keith, and Lance sent Pidge after him so that the earthbender could catch their smallest team member. He started to follow, but a clawed hand on his ankle stopped him.

“You’re not escaping me so easily,” Haggar hissed. Lance kicked at her, but was unable to burst free of her iron grip. “You think that your trick with blood was so clever? You know _nothing_.” With a swipe of her talons, she destroyed Lance’s zipline, dragging him back into the airship.

“NO!” Lance heard Hunk’s shout, but the earthbender was unable to do anything, stranded on a ship of metal and cloth with only the clouds around them. Pidge was equally helpless, and Lance’s heart sank as he saw Fire Nation soldiers open hatches and swarm towards his friends. Keith was stirring on the ground, but there was no way that he could help them.

“You see? Escape is futile.” She held a radio to her mouth. “Throw the smallest one off.”

“NO!”

The soldier holding Pidge strode towards the edge, but halted abruptly. Lance looked at Hunk, but the earthbender was held firmly by three soldiers, shouting wordlessly. The soldier looked down at his feet in disgust, and Lance saw Keith, clinging to the man’s ankle in a desperate attempt to protect Pidge. The soldier just sneered and kicked him in the face. Keith didn’t let go. The soldier continued kicking, and Lance bit back a sound of horror when he was able to yank his foot away from Keith, who dropped to the ground, his face a bloody mess.

“Hunk! Lance! Keith! Help!” Pidge kicked and struggled against her captor, but her diminutive size made it easy for him to hold her far away from him. Hunk roared in fury and doubled his efforts to get away, but one of the soldiers whacked him over the head with a club, and he sagged in their grip. Keith tried to get up, but a kick to the ribs made him go down again. Lance was powerless to do anything but watch as the soldier threw Pidge into the air, sending her flying into the clouds.

Wait.

The clouds! The clouds were water! He could bend them!

“Hasta la later, _witch_ ,” he said with a smirk, “Catch you never!” He launched himself out of the window, gathering liquid to him as he fell, reaching for Pidge. He could save her! This was it, he could save them all!  
            “Lance! Help!”

“I’m coming, Pidge! Hold on!” He stretched out a hand, but she was too far away. He’d never reach her.

\--------------------

“No…” Keith stared in dazed horror over the edge where his friends had disappeared beneath the clouds. Lance might make it. But Pidge wouldn’t. She’d been too far away; he’d never reach her.

“Well, _brat_ ,” Haggar’s voice asked over the radio, “Are you ready to tell us all you know? It appears that you only have one friend left. Are you willing to risk him for the sake of _Kullivan_?”

Keith didn’t answer. His sluggish brain was still trying to create a scenario where Pidge was still alive, a scenario where they all made it out and found Pidge safely on the ground, scowling and asking what had taken so long. Then he saw Lance’s head appear through the clouds, and he nearly smiled. He could still save Hunk.

“Well, little rat? Are you going to tell us?”

“Catch,” Keith shouted. He used the last ounce of his strength to ram the one remaining soldier holding Hunk. The unconscious earthbender went rolling over the edge, and Lance caught him in a net.

“NO!” Haggar screamed angrily, knocking the glass right out of the window.

“JUMP,” Lance screamed, “YOU CAN MAKE IT!”

“Oh, no you don’t!”

Haggar performed an impossible feat; she _jumped_ , spanning the gap between the airships, and slamming Keith away from the edge with a gust of wind. He went rolling across the top of the airship, and a cocoon of air swirled around him, lifting him high up.

“How _dare_ you!” Haggar slammed the tornado down, smacking Keith into the ground, _hard_. “How _dare_ you fight against your people!” Smack. “How _dare_ you disobey your superiors!” Smack. “How _dare_ you call yourself a firebender! You’re a _traitor_! A traitor against your nation!”

“Not- my- nation-” Keith wheezed, “Not- my- people-”

“Then who is?! Who else would accept you for what you are?!”

“Well- _she_ will- for a start-”

Another airship came sailing up out of the sky, Lance and Hunk holding onto the railings. And also there, alive and well, was Pidge, pulling levers and running around the deck with Coran. Haggar’s eyes narrowed. “But where is-”

“Looking for me?” Allura came flying towards Haggar, bringing her staff down on the druid’s head. Haggar barely dodged, sending a blast of wind at Allura, who danced to the side and came rushing back towards her. Allura swiped again and again at the witch, but her offense made her forget about the witch’s wind. A massive blast of wind came right towards Allura, who braced herself for the wind to hit.

But it didn’t. It swirled around her harmlessly.

“By the Avatar,” Keith breathed, “Allura! You’re an airbender!”

Allura stared at her hands in amazement, and then sent a tornado swirling towards Haggar. It blew her hood off, and covering her forehead was a blue arrow that extended into her hairline. With her sleeves blown back, Allura could see similar arrows on her hands.

“You- You’re an air master!”

Haggar growled in anger and sent another blast of wind. But a tornado was already swirling around Allura, pushing the witch back. The whole airship listed to the side, Keith rolling over the edge and into Lance’s net. Allura soon followed, leaping gracefully onto the deck.

“Coran! Let’s go!”

Coran and Pidge steered the airship as far away from the wreckage of ships as possible, sailing through the clouds to friendlier skies.

\------------------

Lance looked up from where he was holding his glowing hand over Hunk’s head as Allura slid inside. Pidge was nearby with her ankle set and wrapped up and his own wrist was in a splint, but Coran assured him that it would be fine in a month or two. Allura shut the door behind her, setting Keith down gently in the tub of water that Coran had brought to the deck.

“Is he going to be alright,” she asked Lance anxiously, “He- it looked pretty bad.”

Lance moved his good arm in a circle. “He’ll be okay, I think. Mostly just bruises, but he’s got some broken ribs and his nose is broken too. Also, a concussion. And, you know, his hip, but that had already started to heal a bit on its own.”

“That doesn’t _sound_ like he’ll be alright!”

“Princess, relax. He’ll be fine. He just needs to rest. We all do.”

“I was so hurtful,” she whispered, “And now, look at him. He’s _not_ like the rest of the Fire Nation. I was so, so wrong!” She gently touched one of the burns on his arm. “He took so much of it…”

“Allura. You need to rest, too. Coran said that you haven’t gotten any sleep since we were captured.”

“How could I sleep when all of you were in danger?”

“We’re safe now. All of us, thanks to you.”

Pidge nodded. “Yeah. I was almost toast.”

Hunk smiled gently. “Yeah. Just get some rest. You too, Coran. Land the airship somewhere and go to bed.”

“Well… I suppose a little sleep wouldn’t hurt…”

“I’ll be along soon,” Coran told them cheerfully, “I’ll take care of Keith, don’t worry. The rest of you get to bed. We can talk in the morning.”

\----------------

Something poked Lance, and he woke with a start. They’d all decided to sleep on the deck so that they could stick together, but it appeared that had been a mistake. About a dozen spear-wielding men and women dressed with plant leaves were surrounding them. Two of them were holding Keith, and one was carrying Pidge, who looked thoroughly embarrassed and annoyed at the same time. The lead spearman nodded to the door, and motioned for them to get up.

“Uh,” Lance said sheepishly, “I guess we go with the natives?”


	17. Chapter 17

Everything hurt. There wasn’t a single part of Keith’s body that wasn’t aching painfully. His brain gave him ten painful death scenarios for Haggar and the jailer, who’d beat him up when he hadn’t told Haggar what she wanted to know. Flaming bastard.

The throbbing in his head was too painful for him to go back to sleep, although he sorely wished he could; he felt like he’d all out sprinted ten miles. Every muscle and bruise screamed in protest when he sat up, dislodging a blanket, and his burns- his burns didn’t actually hurt at all. That was odd. He looked down and saw that his torso and arms were covered in bandages, and he could feel some kind of salve, which was probably dulling the pain.

“Oh, good, you’re awake.”

Keith squinted in the sudden light from the doorway. “Pidge?”

“Alive and well,” she announced proudly, “Well, except for the broken ankle, but there’s not much we can do about that. How’re you?”

“Confused.”

She snorted and sat on his bed. “What do you remember?”

“I- It’s kind of fuzzy.”

“Well, you got knocked on the head pretty hard. But what do you actually clearly remember?”

“I- you fell. And Allura… she can airbend.”

“Well, that’s basically the gist of it. Allura dragged your unconscious arse on board, we all took a nap, and then we got kidnapped by a bunch of swamp-benders.”

“What?”

Keith tried to get out of bed, but Pidge pushed him down. “Whoa. It’s okay. My mom was just mad that I never wrote home. We’re not in danger. The boys are out swamp-skiing and Allura and I are doing actual sensible things like fixing the airship, practicing airbending and getting our hair braided.”

“Getting your hair braided?”

“Yes. I’m sure they can do yours too.”

“Thanks, but no thanks.”

Pidge shrugged. “Your loss. Hey, listen.” Her face was deadly serious and she put one hand on Keith’s. “What you did on the airship… I wanted to say thanks. That was brave.”

Keith shrugged. “It’s not like it did any good,” he said bitterly, “You still got thrown over.”

“But you tried. You tried really hard. And your face…”

“…Wasn’t all that pretty anyway. Breaking my nose probably made it look better.”

“Don’t try to Lance your way out of this!”

“Oh, is he a verb now?”

“Keith! I’m trying to give you a heartfelt thanks! Shut up and let me give it to you!”

“Okay.”

Pidge took in a deep breath. “Anyway. So, yeah. Thanks. So. Want to meet my mom? And the rest of my people?”

“Oh, boy. People.”

“We already explained the whole firebending thing to them, and they’re fairly chill with it. The war doesn’t really extend here, so the most they worry about is that you’ll accidentally set a tree on fire. My mom was a little iffy at first- you know, because of Matt and Dad- but once I explained that you were Shiro’s brother-”

“She knows about Shiro?”

“Oh, yeah.” Pidge rolled her eyes. “That got us into a whole _other_ lecture. ‘Matt wrote to me, Sam wrote to me! Why didn’t _you_ write to me?’ And on and on and on. But I digress. Come on!”

“Where’s my shirt?”

“Oh, it’s ruined,” Pidge said cheerfully, “Absolutely destroyed. Burnt beyond repair. But that’s okay; most of the guys here don’t wear shirts anyway, a custom that Lance has already embraced. Come on!”

Keith followed Pidge out of the little hut, squinting in the bright sunlight. A woman who had to be Pidge’s mother hurried up to him, smiling warmly. “Good to see that you’re awake. I’m Katie’s mother.”

Keith tilted his head, regretting it as it throbbed in pain. “…Katie?”

Pidge discreetly kicked him and then pointed to herself. “Sorry, Mom. He’s still a little confused. Got kicked in the head, after all.”

“Pidge, wait, what?”

Pidge winced, and her mother’s smile seemed to both dim and grow larger at the same time. “Pidge. I thought you _hated_ that name. You always complained when Matt would call you Pidge.”

“I did. But…”

“Katie, why would you change your name? And cut your hair? What was the point?”

“I… I was going to enlist. And… They didn’t allow girls. Not unless you could earthbend. So, I cut my hair. Changed my name. They still didn’t let me in. I started a farm. And… I suspected that the Di-Lee weren’t telling us everything, so I started spying on them. Intercepting messages. I couldn’t contact you because they were intercepting all of the messages coming in and out of Be-Sing-Sae.”

“Katie, that was dangerous! If they’d caught you-”

“But they didn’t! I was careful! This is why I left, Mom! I’m not five anymore! Come on, Keith,” she snapped, turning on her heel and marching away, “Allura will want to see you.”

Keith gestured weakly after Pidge and then shrugged, running after her. “What was that about?”

“Nothing,” Pidge snapped, “Everything is fine.”

“You kind of exploded.”

“Nose out of my business unless you want it broken again.”

“I just think-”

“Keith, you are the _last_ person to be talking about sharing emotions and problems. Who was the one who kept the fact that he was exploding at random points in time and nearly burning people to death? Not me.”

Keith flinched and stopped asking questions. She was right. He didn’t really have the right to be asking her questions about her feelings. Maybe Hunk or Lance could get her to open up, but he doubted that he could. “Okay. So. Are we staying long?”

“Hopefully not.”

“Why? It’s… nice here.”

“Too much nature.”

“You’re a _plantbender._ How can you _not_ like being in nature?”

“You’re a _firebender_. How can you not like being in such close proximity to a flame that it consumes your skin and burns you?” She paused. “Actually, you burn yourself so often that maybe I can’t use that.”

“Well- yeah- but that _hurts_.”

“Well, so does being in nature.”

“How? I _like_ nature. It’s so… quiet. And peaceful.”

“Well, I suppose it would be for someone who spent a year or two in a dank underground cell with sadistic dungeon masters barking orders all of the time, but for me it’s a hive of bugs, poison ivy and sunburns. Not to mention lots of pointy things with teeth, quicksand… no. Nature is nice when it’s under control and in a garden.”

“That’s not nature.”

“Well, it’s good enough for me. So, I want to leave as soon as possible to get back to that aspect.”

Keith shook his head, but was immediately distracted by Allura, whose hair was in a French braid, colorful swamp flowers decorating it. “Keith! You’re awake!”

“Yeah.” Keith toed the ground self-consciously. Last time he’d talked to her, she’d pretty much wanted to kill him. “Uh. So. I’m sorry. About not telling you the truth. I shouldn’t have kept it hidden.”

“I’m sorry,” she said at the same time, “What I said was wrong and hurtful, and you’re not- huh?”

“You go first,” they both said at the same time, “No, you.”

Pidge sighed. “Allura, you go first.”

“I’m sorry,” Allura said again, “You’re not like all the rest of the Fire Nation. It was wrong of me to say so, and I’d like to pretend that I would react in the same way to anyone else keeping secret or lying, but the fact is that I’ve been prejudiced towards you. I knew that it was wrong, but I’ve been holding your heritage against you. And I’m sorry.”

“I- well- I just wanted to apologize for not telling you sooner. Lance was right; you guys should have been the first to know.” He stuck out a hand. “Peace?”

She ignored the hand and hugged him. “Peace.”

Pidge laughed at his bewildered expression and he felt heat rising to his cheeks as it suddenly occurred to him that he was shirtless in front of Allura, as well as the giggling group of teenage girls that was passing by, eying Keith appreciatively. Somehow that hadn’t bothered him when he was just around Pidge and her mother.

Allura pulled back. “I’m sorry! I know- hugs-”

“Uh, that’s okay.”

Pidge seized Keith’s arm. “Right, well, I’m going to introduce Keith to swamp-skiing. See you, Allura!”

“Ugh, not swamp-skiing. It’s bad enough that Lance, Hunk and Coran are all obsessed, now we have to introduce Keith as well?”

“Hey, we have to give them equal chance. Later!”

Pidge yanked Keith along, dragging him excitedly through the swamp. “Swamp-skiing?”

“The main amusement around here. A little odd, in my tastes, but, well-”

“You’re a plantbender who doesn’t like nature,” Keith finished, “Right.”

“ _Precisely._ ”

Pidge stopped in front of the murky swamp river, tapping her foot impatiently. A few moments later, two canoes piloted by grinning waterbender teens skidded to a halt in front of them. Two long ropes were tied to the back of the canoes, a grinning Lance and Hunk clinging to the end, their feet stuck in a couple of skis.

“Hey, Pidge!”

“Where’s Coran?”

Lance jabbed one thumb behind him. “He fell off. Oh, hey, Keith. You look terrible.”

“Thanks.”

Hunk grinned. “Are you going to try swamp-skiing? It’s _great_!”

Keith eyed the murky water distastefully. “Yeah, I’ll pass.”

“Aw, is Keef scared,” Lance teased, “Does he not want to fall off and go boom?”

Keith glared at him balefully. “I’m not scared!”

“Great,” one of the other waterbenders said cheerfully, “Then let’s go!”

Before Keith knew exactly what was happening, he was holding onto a rope, his feet in the wooden skis. “I feel ridiculous,” he grumbled.

“Alright! Hold on tight and keep your balance!”

With a jerk of his arms, the waterbender sent the boat flying forwards, dragging Keith along with it. He had to admit, once the water stopped flying in his face, it was actually kind of fun, flying across the water at top speeds. He let out a whoop, and then the waterbenders yelped, moving the boat to the side suddenly. Keith’s ski whipped to the opposite side, slamming him into a tree. He let go of the rope and splashed into the murky water.

Lance zipped across the water to the spot where Keith had fallen, panicking when he couldn’t see his firend. “Keith? Keith, where are you?!”

Keith’s head emerged from the water and he spat out a small fountain of murky swamp water. “What was _that_ all about?!”

“There was an alligator in the water,” one of the waterbenders replied calmly, “Don’t move, it’s right behind you.”

Keith immediately turned and brought his fist into the alligator’s nose. It drew back with a yelp, and Keith attempted to throw a blast of fire at it, which fizzled out weakly. The alligator turned tail and cowered behind the waterbenders.

“Whoa, whoa, calm down! He’s my pet! We just wanted to play a prank, no need to get so violent!”

“Your pet?”

“Yeah, don’t hurt him!”

“They did it to us, too,” Lance said, gesturing to himself and Hunk, “The alligator wouldn’t have hurt you. It was just a prank”

“Dirty prank,” Keith muttered, “I’m covered in swamp water.”

Lance gasped indignantly. “What’s wrong with water? Even swamp water?”

“I’m a _firebender_ ,” Keith shot back, “This is _highly unnatural_. I’m not supposed to get wet.”

The waterbenders grinned apologetically. “Sorry. We didn’t really think about that; waterbenders and earthbenders can just bend it off. How about you can splash us and we won’t knock the water off and we can call it even?”

Keith disappeared under the water, and the teenagers looked suspiciously at their alligator. Then both canoes flipped over, sending everybody involved into the swamp water, sputtering. Keith surfaced, his eyes glinting mischievously. “ _Now_ we’re even.” He swam for shore, wondering why he’d even agreed to this; his bandages were starting to itch and his muscles were doing the equivalent of shouting angrily at the top of their lungs at him.

Pidge was waiting for him, smirking slightly. “So, how’re we enjoying swamp-skiing?” In response, he shook himself, scattering dirty swamp water all over her. She yelped, throwing her arms up futilely to protect herself. “You could’ve just said no!”

“It was fun,” he told her, “But I’m not getting wet again. Too… weird. Too muddy.”

“Huh. The fearsome firebender Keith, holds up under torture, protects no matter the cost, burns himself on accident all of the time… doesn’t like water. Well, we can’t ever let _that_ information out. Haggar would have you at her mercy if she just dumped a bucket of water over your head! If she’d known that all it took was-”

Keith gently pushed Pidge and she tumbled into a mud puddle. “Whoops.”

Pidge jumped out of the puddle sputtering, her front covered in mud. “What- you- little- going to-” Keith sprinted away from the angry plantbender, scaling a tree. A vine wrapped around his ankle and yanked him over the edge of the branch, holding him upside down at eye level with Pidge. “I’m a _plantbender_ , you idiot. Did you really think you could hide from me in a _tree_?”

“What was that? I couldn’t hear you from all the way down there!”

“Jokes about my height are _low_ , Keith,” Pidge snapped, although she wasn’t really angry, “No pun intended or wanted.” She dropped him with a splash into a mud puddle and locked him in a half-nelson. “Who’s short _now_ , huh? Who’s small _now_?!”

“Ah, Pidge, let go!” Keith could get out of this if he wanted to, probably just by standing up, but he wriggled around and pleaded for mercy anyway, just to placate Pidge.

“Say ‘uncle!’ Say it!”

“Uncle! Uncle! Geeze, Pidge! Let me go! I’m injured!”

“Not too injured to go swamp-skiing, climb trees and push me in a puddle of mud,” Pidge retorted, but she stopped pinning him down and let him get up.

“Ow.”

“Oh, you’re not hurt, you big sissy!”

“Pidge? Keith? What exactly are you two doing?”

Pidge and Keith looked up, both covered in mud, to see Allura, frowning disapprovingly at them both.

Keith scrambled to his feet. “Uh- nothing!”

“Keith, Pidge, you shouldn’t be straining yourselves like that! You’re both still injured!”

“Aw, come on,” Pidge protested, “Lance healed my ankle!”

“The bones are still weak, you know that! And Keith!”

“They don’t hurt,” he muttered.

“You shouldn’t be exerting yourself like that! You’re going to reopen your hip wound or aggravate your burns! And you need rest after all that!”

“I’m fine!”

Allura pointed towards the village. “Go.”

Keith sighed but went down the dirt path, Pidge at his heels. “I _swear,_ ” he grumbled, “If she’s not hating my guts, she’s trying to shove me in bed. There’s no in-between.”

“Well, you know, lovers-”

“Were it not for Allura’s restraining order,” Keith warned, “I would shove you into another mud puddle.”

“Were it not for Allura’s restraining order, I’d make you eat dirt if you tried.”

“Katie! There you are!” Pidge’s mother hurried up to her. “Katie, we’re going to have all of the cousins over since you’re visiting, and I needed to know, does Keith have any dietary restrictions? I that Allura and Coran are vegetarians, but-”

“Mom, he’s right here, you can just ask him.”

Pidge’s mother seemed to do a double take when she saw Keith, but Keith could tell that it was a fake. “Oh! Sorry! Well, uh, do you?”

Keith shook his head with a slight smile. “As long as it’s food.” He squinted vaguely into the distance. “Or even if it’s not.”

“…Sorry?”

“I ate tree bark once when I was hungry,” he informed her, “Also a rock. And a lot of other non-edible items. I tried to eat my sword, but-”

“Oh! Thank you! That’s enough! Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on feeding you a rock.” She hurried off, her face slightly green.

Keith nudged Pidge. “You’re welcome.”

She tilted her head curiously at him. “So, you _didn’t_ eat a rock?”

“Well, I ate a rock once or twice, but I never ate tree bark. Or my sword.”

“You ate a rock _twice_?!”

“I was hungry,” he said defensively, “It wasn’t terrible!”

Pidge just shook her head. “That just sounds like the kind of excuse Hunk would make. Earthbenders probably eat rocks for the fun of it.”

“So, then,” Keith said casually, “Why exactly were we in a hurry to get rid of your mom?”

“Nose out,” Pidge warned, holding up one fist threateningly.

“Right. But I wasn’t imagining hostility?”

“I’m not kidding. I’ll break it.”

“Huh. Normally _I’m_ the one threatening to break people’s noses; you’re certainly being more-”

Pidge slugged him in the arm. “Warning shot, Keith. I may be shorter than you, but I can still reach your nose.”

Keith rubbed his arm. “Warning received and ignored. But, again, that’s really more something I would do! Why are you being so-” he caught her fist on its path to his face. “Oh. You’ll actually do it.”

“No kidding,” she snarled, “Really, Keith. It’s none of your ever-flaming business, so stay out of it.”

She marched away from him, head held high, and he gazed after her, eyes full of concern. He knew, from lots and _lots_ of experience, that keeping your emotions and problems from your friends and bottling it all up was a _terrible_ idea. But he also knew how hard it was to admit those emotions; part of you just didn’t want to burden others, and you thought that you could handle it. Sometimes it was noble. Sometimes… sometimes you were being selfish. He wasn’t sure what was going on with Pidge, but he knew that they needed to fix it fast. Of course, if _he_ tried, he’d end up with a crooked nose for eternity. Keith touched his still-sore nose gingerly. It had been bad enough last time.

\----------------------

“Hey, Pidge!”

Pidge eyed Hunk slightly suspiciously. “Hi. Done swamp-skiing?”

“Yeah. So, how do you like being back home?”

“It’s fine,” Pidge replied shortly.

“And your mom! It must be great seeing your family again!”

“Yeah, Pidge said softly, “Great.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“You seem a little-”

“Why does everybody keep commenting on me?! I’m home! It’s great! Fine! Yay! Why do you and Keith have to pry into my feelings?! Why can’t you just leave me alone?!” She stomped away from him, now positively fuming.

“Well,” Keith said sympathetically to Hunk, who was staring bemusedly after Pidge’s retreating form, “At least she didn’t threaten to break your nose.”

\-------------------

Pidge had never really liked family reunions. Her mom only had a couple of siblings, but overall, Pidge had eighteen cousins. That was eighteen too many, in her opinion. Her cousin U was a plantbender like her, and actually sensible, but he was always sitting at the banyan tree. Not that she blamed him. If she had the siblings he did, she’s probably stay as far away from them as possible. She’d hoped to see him, but it appeared that he was off in his secluded grove. Pidge envied him.

This family reunion was no exception to her rule. Everybody wrestled and shoved and poked, although most of their curiosity seemed to be directed towards her friends, especially Allura and Keith. The older male cousins made eyes at Allura and started trying to push their male dominance over Lance, Hunk and Keith. The older female cousins (Pidge knew that their names were Shakira, Shiue and Shashi, but she didn’t remember which names belonged to who) made eyes at Lance and Keith, treated Hunk like a teddy bear and faked civility towards Allura while trying to push female dominance over her.

Pidge’s younger cousins, although wilder, were less political. They asked questions upon questions upon questions, questions about the North Pole, questions about Ba-Sing-Sae, questions about the Air Nomads, questions about firebending and last of all, questioning if they’d like to play.

“Shoo,” Pidge told them, “Go bother someone else!”

“I’ll play,” Lance told them with a grin, shooting a nervous look at the male cousins.

            “Me too,” Hunk said quickly, although his nervousness was directed towards the female cousins, who had patted his arm and exclaimed how adorable he was about ten times now.

            “Oh, yeah! Me too!” Keith shot off after them, eying all five of the older kids. Pidge wasn’t sure whether to laugh or to roll her eyes.

            “So,” one of her female cousins said, “How’d you end up with _that_ lot?”

            “It’s a long story,” Pidge replied, “which is none of your business.”

“Oh, come now,” her cousin said, leaning in, “We’re _family_ , Katie!”

She smelled like she’d crushed every flower in the forest and rubbed them all over her. Oh, yeah. Shakira. She was obsessed with her scent, and was under the impression that her odd flower-crushing smell was attractive. Pidge sincerely doubted it, although Shakira had about ten boyfriends already, so she could be mistaken.

“Shakira, I haven’t seen you in three years. There is absolutely no reason I should tell you anything. You could be working for the Fire Nation for all I know.”

“Yes, well, said the pot to the kettle.”

“What’s _that_ supposed to mean,” Pidge snapped.

“Oh, please. You know what I mean. You’ve been traveling with a _firebender_ , Pidge. Now, maybe here in the swamp where the war doesn’t touch it might not matter. But I live outside the swamp. I know what the Fire Nation has done. I know how everybody hates them. I know _everything_.”

“Keith is a valuable part of our team,” Allura snapped, “And our friend. Perhaps you _don’t_ know everything.”

All of her other cousins started oooing and laughing at Shakira, who stuttered, at a loss for words. Pidge rolled her eyes. They were such idiots. Sometimes she was embarrassed to share blood with them.

Shakira marched away to the adults, her nose in the air, and everything seemed to relax. Her other cousins visibly relaxed and started chattering excitedly to Pidge, talking about how everything had been, how their farms had been, about how all of the young men had left to fight but the army wouldn’t take women who weren’t earthbenders and how terribly biased it all was. The boys started talking about all of their feats and about how their parents had stopped them from going off to war.

“It’s not really fair! You’re a girl _and_ too young, but _you’re_ off gallivanting around the kingdoms and fighting the Fire Nation while _we’re_ stuck on the farm!”

“You don’t want to go to war,” Pidge said quietly, thinking of all of the carnage that they’d seen flying over battlefields, “It’s terrible. There’s just death and destruction, and people going missing.” Unwanted tears came to her eyes. “And people get hurt. There’s nothing you can do about it. Sometimes _you’re_ the reason they’re hurt, and you see terrible, terrible things, and the people you love get hurt, and everybody is scared all of the time but trying not to show it.”

The tears threatened to spill over, and the remaining girl cousins wrapped their arms around her, letting her cry quietly into their shoulders. One of them, Shiue, Pidge thought, started stroking her hair gently.

“Oh, Katie. It’s okay. We wouldn’t ever really go to war. But it’ll be okay! You’ll see! We’re not going to lose this war. We’re going to win! And everything will be alright again.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Well, _you’re_ fighting, aren’t you? War’s going to be over in the next month, just you wait.”

“Well, I _can’t_ wait. Not if I’m going to end the war.”

Shiue and Shashi pulled back, beaming. “ _There’s_ our girl!” They both glanced back in the direction of the younger siblings. “Uh, you might want to help your friends.”

Keith Hunk and Lance were all pinned to the ground, Hunk and Lance by three girls each in a good-natured, ‘oh no, you got me’ way, Keith with all six boys on top of him, struggling valiantly to no avail.

“Uh, Keith? You okay?”

“Your cousins have no reserves! They don’t hold back!”

“And I suppose you did?”

“Why do you _think_ I’ve got six of them on me?! I’m not going to go full strength on them, but I’m not a complete pushover!”

“Hey,” Lance called from where the three girls were sitting on his back, tousling his hair, “Are you trying to say something, Keith?”

“Yeah! I’m saying that they show no mercy!”

“There is no mercy,” one of the little boys shouted, “Do you think that the Fire Nation will go easy on you, lizard?!”

“Yeah,” the others chimed, “No mercy!”

As if on cue, they started bouncing up and down on him, squealing. Pidge pulled one off with a grin. “Alright, alright, don’t kill him for the Avatar’s sake. We need him alive.”

“No one leaves alive,” a second child shouted, “We take no prisoners! Leave no injured! Death comes to those who oppose us!”

“Cute kids,” Keith said as Pidge grabbed one and yanked him off, wrapping vines around him to keep him still, “Real charmers. Bet they grow up to be dictators.”

“Heaven forbid.”

“Hey, we should just release these guys on the Fire Nation,” Lance said with a grin, “They won’t stand a chance.”

One of Lance’s captors hopped off of his back, grinning a gap-toothed smile. She pulled up her sleeve to show them a burn scar that streaked her arm. “I hit a Fire Nation soldier with a stick,” she said proudly, “He was a _jerk_.”

Pidge felt sick, and she could see it on the others’ faces. “He _burned_ you?”

She nodded. “Yeah. He tried to take a cow-pig so I hit him with a stick and he got real mad. But it was _my_ cow-pig, and I didn’t want him to have it!” She turned to her brothers. “ _Those_ cowards stayed hidden in the trees. So much for death coming for those who oppose them.”

“Hey!” All of the remaining children jumped to their feet, leaving a slightly squashed Keith behind. “We _would’ve_ gone after them, but Mom said no! _You_ disobeyed orders!”

She stuck out her tongue. “Yeah, well, I saved the cow-pigs, _so there_!”

“Okay, kids,” Mrs. Holt shouted, “Dinner!”

All of them stampeded towards the cooking fires. Pidge gave Keith a hand up. “You _clearly_ don’t know how to handle children.”

“Well, why would I,” he grumbled.

She smiled, but that smile quickly dissipated when her mother sat next to them. “Alright, everybody, before we eat, I just want to say that I am _very_ glad that my little girl has returned, and that I hope the rest of my family will find their way back soon!”

The rest of the family cheered loudly and started eating, but Pidge stood up, striding away from her mother angrily. She wanted to be alone right now.

But her mother wouldn’t let her. She doggedly followed Pidge through the swamp to a secluded grove, where she finally touched Pidge’s shoulder. “Katie, what’s wrong? You’ve been acting so oddly ever since you got back! What’s bothering you?”

“What’s bothering me,” Pidge shouted, “Oh, nothing! Everything is hunky-dory according to you!”

“Katie, I don’t understand! What-”

“You act like they never disappeared! You act like they’re out on vacation and you’re just waiting for them to come back! Well, they’re not! They’re gone! We don’t have any idea where they are, but you just act like everything is fine! They could be hurt or dead or anything, but you don’t care!” She shook her head, trying not to let her tears fall. “You don’t care,” she whispered, “I saw some of the terrible things the Fire Nation will do to their prisoners. Any one of them could be happening to Matt or Dad, but you just prattle on like nothing’s changed.”

“Oh, Katie.” Pidge looked up to see tears rolling down her mother’s face. “Katie, I know. I _know_ that there could be terrible things happening to them. I _know_ that they’ll be hard to find. But I know that they’re coming back. I know that they’re going to return to me.”

“How can you be so sure,” Pidge whispered, “How can you know?”

“I know because I know that you’re out there looking for them. And I know that you won’t give up until you find them. _That’s_ why I know they’ll return. Because I believe that you can do _anything_ you set your mind to.”

The tears spilled over, and Pidge rushed to her mother, burying her face in her warm sweater. “What if I can’t? What if I’m not good enough?”

Her mother wrapped her arms around her, folding Pidge up in a safe and warm embrace. “Then you’ll try again. And your friends will help you; I know that they will. I believe in you, Katie.”

An ‘aw,’ sounded from one of the trees, and Pidge bent its branches, sending Hunk tumbling out of it. “Okay, who else is there?!”

Lance slid from a tree, grinning, and so did Keith, who at least had the grace to look slightly ashamed of himself.

“Okay. _You_ I expected,” pointing to Lance, “But you too, Keith?”

“What?!”

“Allura’s not hiding in the trees, is she?”

“No.”

“Alright! Shoo! All of you! Go away!”

They all filed off, Hunk and Lance still grinning, Keith with his usual grouchy face on. Pidge rolled her eyes. “Those guys, I _swear_.”

Her mother laughed. “Friendship. Love. Those are the things that this world needs. Those are the things you should fight for. Don’t fight to destroy the Fire Nation. Fight to protect what you love. _That’s_ how you win a war.”

“You know what, Mom? I think you’re right.”

“Of _course_ I am. I’m your mother. I’m _always_ right.”

\---------------

Keith stared at the ceiling of his hut. He didn’t know why he was awake, but something seemed… off. He slid out of his sleeping bag and snuck out of the little house, carefully stepping over Lance and Hunk. A shadow detached itself from a different little house. Shakira?! Keith slipped quietly after her, sticking to the shadows. A noose of vines jerked around his ankle, yanking him upside-down.

“Alright, Shakira, what’re you- oh, no. Keith! I’m so sorry!” Pidge’s vines set Keith down gently. “What’re _you_ doing out here?”

“Following Shakira. Good to see that I’m not the only one who’s paranoid.”

“I’m not- she’s- fine. I’m paranoid. So sue me.”

“Wait, she’s moving!” Keith slid after Shakira, hiding himself in the shadows.

“Hello?”

Pidge and Keith froze, sure that she’d spotted them. But she wasn’t facing them. A tall man in a Fire Nation uniform stalked out of the trees. “You said you had information.”

“I do. The ones you want. They’re staying in the village. I’ll show you.”

“You’re so willing to sell out your own family. It’s almost… admirable.”

“I know who the winning side will be,” Shakira said confidently, “And I want to be on it.”

The man laughed. “Good girl. But we already know where that pathetic village is. Of course, now that we know that the paladins are there… Good work. When General Zarkon has them in his grasp, you will be rewarded greatly.”

Shakira smiled. “Good.”

Keith made a move forward, but Pidge put a hand on his arm. _We have to warn them,_ she mouthed, _or they won’t stand a chance!_

 _Just one flame,_ he pleaded silently, _just one spark on her hair?_

_No._

Keith shook his head, but followed Pidge back to the village at a dead sprint.

They were too late. The firebenders had arrived, and they didn’t hesitate to set everything on fire. Keith sucked it all up and sent it flying into the sky, but there were _way_ too many firebenders.

“Allura! Hunk! Pidge! You guys hold them off! Lance, you put out the fires!”

“What about you,” Allura asked.

“I’m going to get the villagers out of here. Go!”

They all scattered, and Keith turned to the frightened people hiding in their houses. “Come on! You have to leave!”

“The fire,” someone whispered.

“I won’t let it touch you,” Keith promised, “On my honor. But if you stay in there, you’re going to get torched.”

The kids all charged out. One of the little boys saluted. “At your command sir!”

“What happened to ‘lizard?’”

“You graduated! How’re you going to stop the fire?”

Lance was doing his best to put out the flames, but even though he was surrounded by water, there was a _lot_ of fire. Keith clenched his fist, and all of the fire in his path condensed into a single ball of white-hot flame that hovered above his fist. “GO!”

All of the children ran, some of them disappearing into the trees, others diving into the river. The adults chased after them, but the soldiers focused on them, and Keith allowed the fire in his hand to dart out and strike the soldiers, driving them back. The rest of Pidge’s family disappeared into the trees, and Keith threw the fireball at Lance, who just raised one hand and caught it in a pocket of water, extinguishing the flames.

“A little warning, next time?”

“Right, sorry.” Keith glanced around the swamp and saw a swordsman, sword raised just behind Allura’s neck. She was busy fighting a firebender, and didn’t see him creeping up on her. “ALLURA!” The flames had left his hand before he even realized it, directly hitting the sword. It heated up, melting into a misshapen blob. He quickly recalled the heat as the sword found its mark, smacking Allura. She just glared in surprise at the man and slammed him into a tree with a blast of wind.

“Thanks, Keith!”

Pidge caught sight of Shakira, cowering behind a tree, and her blood boiled over. Encased in vines, she marched over to her sniveling cousin and lifted her upside down. “Alright,” she growled, “Tell me everything you know.”

“I- ah- I don’t know-”

Pidge gave her a little shake. “You do! You know something!”

“Shakira!” A young firebender shot a blast of fire at Pidge, which harmlessly burned off some of the foliage covering her. “Release her, fiend!”

“Boyfriend of yours?”

“No,” Shakira muttered, “He’s just some-”

Pidge yanked the firebender off of his feet. “Okay. Here’s the deal. You tell me everything you know, or I drop Shakira.”

Shakira squawked in indignation, and the firebender looked doubtfully at her. She peeled back some of the vines until only one or two were keeping Shakira from dropping and breaking her pretty face. “Okay! Okay! What _exactly_ do you want to know?!”

“Two plantbenders! Matt and Sam Holt! Where are they?!”

“I don’t know!”

“I’ll drop her!”

“I really don’t know! But there’s a prison! Beta Traz! It holds all of the records of war prisoners! You can probably find something there! Please, please, set us down!”

Pidge dumped both of them at the top of a tall tree. “Shakira, whatever boyfriend you’ve got right now, dump him. This one is much better.” She turned to the rest of her team, who had beaten the remainder of the soldiers and were tying them all to trees. “Guys, I want to take a field trip. Who wants to go to Beta Traz with me?”


	18. Very sorry.

I'm sorry, but this work is officially out of my hands. I just can't write it anymore; the show's run too far ahead and I just have too many WIP. If you want to pick up where I left off, tell me in the comments and I'll add you as a creator.


	19. New Plan

New plan: I'm going to wait until VLD ends, and then see where to go from there. Sit tight and watch out for new chapters.

**Author's Note:**

> As said in the summary, will update as Voltron comes out.


End file.
